Washington is expected to submit a new and more detailed draft proposal within days for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage return deal, according to American officials.
The proposal will specify how long Israel can maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor on the southern edge of Gaza bordering Egypt, one of the main sticking points in reaching a deal.
Despite the assertion by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week that Israeli forces will remain along the Philadelphi corridor, strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, considered close to Mr Netanyahu, said the issue can be discussed during the initial six-week phase of a ceasefire.
Hamas insists there can be no ceasefire without a full Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor, the Netzarim corridor that runs across the centre of the Gaza Strip, and the Rafah crossing on the border of Gaza and Egypt.
Protests continued across Israel on Wednesday after the recovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages shot dead in a tunnel in southern Gaza at the weekend.
Families of hostages held in Hamas captivity protested in front of Likud party headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the war would continue as long as thegovernment remained in power.
“War frees the government from the need to cope with the challenges. The time has come to replace the government and to end the war.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that troops operating in Gaza’s Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah have killed more than 200 militants in recent weeks, uncovered a significant cache of weapons and rocket-launching pads and discovered an underground bunker where Hamas militants were hiding.
In Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians, including a girl, medics said, while an air strike in the Darraj suburb of Gaza City killed a local doctor, Nehad Al-Madhoun, in his house.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, medics said an Israeli air strike killed six Palestinians awaiting aid trucks near the Sheikh Zayed housing project.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7th. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages seized in the surprise Hamas attack on that day. More than 60 living hostages, and the bodies of about 35 others taken captive but believed to be dead, are still in Gaza, according to the Israeli authorities.
Unrwa, the United Nations refugee agency, has said good progress is being made in the roll-out of a polio vaccine in Gaza after both Israel and Hamas agreed to humanitarian pauses in the fighting to facilitate the operation. The first case of the virus occurred in the coastal enclave last month. Unrwa said about 187,000 children in central Gaza received the vaccine within three days of the campaign’s start.
Israel is continuing with its wide scale military operation in the northern West Bank, now in its second week.
The IDF said two armed militants who fired at them in Tulkarem were killed in Wednesday. Israel says it destroyed an explosives lab, landmines, and materials for producing explosives. Defence minister Yoav Gallant said the “resurgence of terrorism in the West Bank” is an issue the government must “remain focused on at all times”.
More than 30 Palestinians have been killed and dozens of arrests have been made during the operation, which began a week ago in different areas of the West Bank. Most have been claimed as members of armed Palestinian groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Fatah but some have been uninvolved civilians.
Cross-border fire also continued on the northern border between Israeli forces and Hizbullah. More than 70 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Galilee on Wednesday, destroying two homes in Kiryat Shmona and causing widespread fires.
The US justice department has filed criminal charges against six Hamas leaders in connection with the October 7th attacks against Israel, marking the first criminal step undertaken by the justice department to hold individuals accountable.
More than 40 US citizens were killed on October 7th. Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, is among those named; three have already been killed by Israel.
– Additional reporting: Reuters
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