Israel orders more evacuations from Gaza as envoys seek truce » Today Latest Stories

Israel ordered more evacuations in the main city in the southern Gaza Strip as diplomats continue their efforts to secure a temporary halt to the war, which Hamas says has killed 20,000 people.

The United Nations said that Israel issued evacuation orders on December 20 for large areas in Khan Yunis, where more than 140,000 displaced people took refuge.

Israel asked civilians to leave the besieged northern Palestinian territories at the beginning of the conflict, and urged them to seek safety in the southern regions.

But as space for people continues to shrink, international outrage over the rising death toll has mounted.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing about 1,140 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapping about 250, according to Israeli army estimates. France Press agency The tally is based on Israeli figures.

The Hamas government’s media office in the Gaza Strip said on December 20 that at least 20,000 people had been killed in the Palestinian territories since the start of the war with Israel.

She added that among the dead were eight thousand children and 6,200 women.

United Nations Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths described this as a “tragic and shameful phase.”

In the southern city of Rafah, where fireballs and smoke rose after explosions on December 20, residents expressed hope that the truce talks would succeed.

He added: “I hope for a complete ceasefire, and an end to the series of death and suffering. “It has been more than 75 days,” said Qasim Sharab, 25 years old.

Truce talks

Hopes increased that Israel and Hamas would move towards another truce and a hostage release agreement this week, with the leader of the Palestinian movement visiting Egypt and holding talks in Europe.

Family and friends’ reaction during the funeral of IDF Sgt. Boris Dunavitsky on December 20, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The IDF announced the death of Sgt. Boris Dunavitsky, from the 46th Battalion of the 401st Armored Brigade, was killed during the fighting in the Gaza Strip. | Image credit: Getty Images

The head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who resides in Qatar, arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Haniyeh also met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, but no details were revealed.

A Hamas official said France Press agency He said that “a comprehensive ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from the Gaza Strip is a precondition for any serious negotiations” regarding the exchange of prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there would be no ceasefire in Gaza before Hamas was “eliminated.”

US President Joe Biden said about the new hostage release deal: “There are no expectations at this stage.” But we pay it.”

Mossad Director David Barnea held a “positive meeting” in Warsaw this week with CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a source familiar with the talks said. France Press agency.

Qatar, with the support of Egypt and the United States, last month helped mediate the first week-long truce that saw the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Tunnel network

Israel said on December 20 that its forces had found a network of tunnels used by Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, leader of the Islamic movement in Gaza.

The army published footage that it said showed the “large network” around Palestine Square in Gaza City, which connects bunkers and residences.

Palestinians search for victims at the site of an Israeli raid on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on December 19, 2023. | Image source: Reuters

The army reported close combat and more than 300 strikes over the past day.

The Israeli army said that three soldiers were killed on December 20, bringing the number of its forces killed in the Gaza Strip to 137 since the start of ground operations in late October.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on December 21 that Israeli forces carried out operations at night in the West Bank.

that France Press agency On December 20, a live camera filmed two bombs hitting Rafah, where many of the area’s estimated 1.9 million displaced people fled.

The Hamas Ministry of Health said that Israeli raids killed at least 12 Palestinians when homes and a mosque in Rafah were targeted.

It later said that at least 30 other people were killed in an Israeli raid that hit two homes east of Khan Yunis.

Crowds gathered among the rubble and dug with shovels and bulldozers in an attempt to free the victims. A black body lies under a blue blanket on the blood-stained ground.

“Enough, enough of this. We lost everything and we couldn’t take it anymore,” said Samar Abu Luli, a woman from Rafah, after the Israeli raids on the city’s Shaboura neighborhood.

United Nations human rights expert Francesca Albanese said that Israel is attacking the health system in Gaza, with its attacks taking “the most sadistic forms.”

The United Nations dilemma

The UN Security Council was scheduled to try again on December 21 to pass a resolution calling for a halt to the fighting after previous efforts to gain Washington’s support failed.

A woman visits the United Nations headquarters, while Security Council delegates postponed for an additional day voting on a proposal calling on Israel and Hamas to allow aid to reach the Gaza Strip via land, sea and air routes and to establish United Nations monitoring of the Strip. Humanitarian aid at the United Nations headquarters in New York, United States, on December 20, 2023. | Image source: Reuters

Israel has rejected the term “ceasefire”, and the United States has used its veto power twice to thwart decisions that Israel has opposed since the beginning of the war.

The United Arab Emirates is sponsoring a draft resolution on the conflict that has already been watered down to ensure a compromise is reached, according to a draft version it has seen. France Press agency.

It calls for “an urgent cessation of hostilities to allow safe and unimpeded humanitarian access, and for urgent steps to be taken towards a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

The war has raised fears of regional escalation, with gunfire exchanged across the Lebanese border, and Iranian-backed Yemeni rebel missiles disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.

On December 20, Israel said it bombed an “operational command center” used by Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and fired on fighters heading to the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have fired missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, warned on December 20 that they would retaliate if US forces attacked them.

This warning came after the United States said it was forming a multinational naval task force to protect ships crossing the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, which were carried out in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.