As negotiators prepared to resume discussions about a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, fighting continued overnight in Gaza and the West Bank.
International mediators from United States, Qatar and Egypt are set to begin a new round of talks on Thursday, but tensions remain high with Iran and its allies threatening to retaliate against Israel for the assassinations of a top Hezbollah operative in Beirut and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Israel has claimed the Beirut attack, but not the Tehran one, although Israel is widely presumed to have carried it out.
Israeli strikes early Wednesday killed at least 17 people, including five children and their parents, in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said.
The Israel Defense Forces reported destroying more than 40 Hamas infrastructure sites throughout the Gaza Strip, killing armed combatants and uncovering large quantities of weapons, ammunition, grenades and other explosives.
Israeli troops also killed five Palestinians in air strikes and a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, sources on both sides said.
The Israeli army said it “carried out air strikes on several armed terrorists” in the town of Tammun, 5 kilometers from Tubas.
Tubas governor Ahmad Saad told AFP that four Palestinians were killed in Tammun and one in Tubas.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that “the army entered Tubas at dawn and shot and killed a young man hiding in his home.”
‘Not giving up’
On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said that he was “not giving up” on concluding a cease-fire deal that could avert a bigger conflict.
In addition to the threat from Iran, there are also concerns around reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has added to his demands for a cease-fire deal. His office denied the reports Tuesday, saying he did not introduce new terms, only “essential clarifications” for the deal’s implementation.
Netanyahu has said he will send a delegation to Thursday’s talks, but it was not yet clear whether Hamas would participate.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby has warned that Israel and its allies must be prepared for “what could be a significant set of attacks” from Iran as soon as “this week.”
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive has killed nearly 40,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, while Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara, Margaret Besheer, Nike Ching, Carla Babb and Natasha Mozgovaya contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
