Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza Strip on Friday, March 15. Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
On Saturday, high-level Hamas leader, Osama Hamdan, announced that ceasefire discussions with Israel regarding the Gaza conflict haven’t moved forward.
At a news conference in Beirut, Hamdan said Hamas remains open to any truce offer that ensures an end to the conflict. Efforts led by Arab mediators and supported by the US have yet to broker a ceasefire, with each side pointing fingers for the stalemate. Hamas insists any agreement must conclude the war and secure a total Israeli exit from Gaza, while Israel demands only brief lulls until Hamas, governing Gaza since 2007, is dismantled.
Hamdan accused the US of pressuring Hamas to yield to Israeli terms.
“Hamas is prepared to engage positively with any offer that guarantees a lasting ceasefire, a full Gaza Strip withdrawal, and a sincere prisoner exchange,” Hamdan stated, referring to the potential exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
When Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, they killed around 1,200 individuals and took over 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
In response, the Israeli assaults have claimed nearly 38,000 lives, according to Gaza’s health ministry, leaving the densely populated strip in devastation.
The Gaza health ministry does not separate combatants from civilians, but officials claim most fatalities are civilians. Israel, losing over 300 soldiers in Gaza, asserts that at least a third of the Palestinian casualties are fighters.
On Saturday, Palestinian health officials reported that Israeli military strikes across Gaza had killed at least 35 people and injured many others.
The Israeli military also reported the deaths of two soldiers during combat in northern Gaza, as the Israeli offensive progressed in Gaza City’s Shejaia neighborhood.
Locals witnessed tanks advancing into several districts, including the area near a local market, amidst intense fire from both air and ground forces.
The military branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad mentioned intense battles, claiming fighters used anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs against Israeli forces there.
The Israeli military stated that dozens of Palestinian gunmen were killed in close combat and airstrikes in Shejaia over the past two days, after forces encircled what they described as a civilian area repurposed by Hamas into a militant stronghold.
“In this zone, troops uncovered observation posts, weapons, enemy drones, and a long-range rocket launcher close to schools,” the military mentioned in a communiqué.
Hamas has refuted claims of operating within civilian sites like schools and hospitals.
More than eight months into Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza, militants continue launching attacks on Israeli forces, even in territories that the Israeli army claims to have secured months ago.
Recently, Israeli leaders said the most intense phase of the war is nearing completion, with the next phase focusing on smaller operations to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops in various districts of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, reportedly killed several Palestinians and forced families from the city’s far western edge along the coast to move north, according to Palestinian medics and residents.
Israel has declared that its military activities in Rafah aim to eliminate Hamas’s remaining armed units.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; additional coverage by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; writing by Hatem Maher; editing by Frances Kerry and Christina Fincher
