- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stated that the killing of
three of his sons and four grandchildren in an Israeli airstrike would not
alter Hamas’s stance in ongoing truce negotiations. - The United States, led by President Joe Biden, has been
urging both Hamas and Israel to agree to a truce proposal amid growing global
criticism of Israel’s military actions and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. - Talks mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar propose a
six-week halt in fighting and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is studying the offer.
Hamas chief
Ismail Haniyeh insisted that the death of three of his sons in an Israeli air
strike would not influence truce talks in Gaza, as bombardments on Thursday
rocked the Palestinian territory.
Israel
confirmed the killings, which came as talks in Cairo for a temporary ceasefire
and hostage release deal drag on without signs of a breakthrough.
Speaking to
Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, Haniyeh suggested that the strike, which also
killed four of his grandchildren, was an attempt to shift Hamas’s negotiating
stance.
He said:
If they think that this will force Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional.
US
President Joe Biden said Hamas “needs to move” on the latest truce
proposal, which the militant group has said it is studying.
Israel’s
main international ally, the United States, has also been ramping up pressure
on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a truce, increase the amount
of aid flowing into the besieged Gaza Strip and abandon plans to invade the
southern city of Rafah.
Biden
labelled Netanyahu’s handling of the war a “mistake” in an interview
broadcast on Tuesday, before warning on Wednesday that Israel has not allowed
enough aid into the territory.
Despite
calls for a ceasefire, Israel carried out strikes early Thursday in the Gaza
Strip, particularly in the south of the territory, witnesses said.
The war
broke out with Hamas’s 7 October attack against Israel, which resulted in the
deaths of 1 170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
ROLLING COVERAGE | DEVELOPING: Israel asks for more time to respond to court petition on Gaza aid
Palestinian
militants also took about 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including
34 the Israeli army says are dead.
Israel’s
retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33 482 people in Gaza, mostly women
and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Hamas ‘studying’
truce
Talks
mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have been ongoing since Sunday.
Hamas spokesperson
in Doha, Hossam Badran, told AFP: “Hamas is studying the offer
presented… It has not responded yet.”
A framework
being circulated would halt fighting for six weeks and see the exchange of
about 40 hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Biden,
speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, said: “It’s now up to Hamas,
they need to move on the proposal that’s been made”.
READ | Biden says Netanyahu making ‘mistake’ on Gaza
There has
been a growing chorus of international criticism aimed at Israel’s handling of
the war and the paucity of aid entering the territory.
On
Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that what he called
Israel’s “disproportionate response” in Gaza risked
“destabilising the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire
world”.
Spain is
among several Western nations, including Ireland and Australia, to have
suggested they would recognise a Palestinian state in the near future as a
starting point for wider peace talks.
‘Mistake’
Israeli war
cabinet member Benny Gantz said that militarily, “Hamas is defeated”
but pledged to continue fighting “what remains of it”, including in
the years to come.
He also
echoed Netanyahu’s vows to enter the southern city of Rafah despite growing
international concern for the civilians there. “We will enter Rafah. We
will return to Khan Yunis,” he said.
More than
1.5 million civilians are sheltering from the war in Rafah, the last Gazan city
yet to face an Israeli ground incursion.
The United
States has repeatedly warned against an attack on Rafah.
Evidencing
his growing frustration with the hawkish Netanyahu, Biden has issued some of
his sternest criticisms of the war yet.
“I
think what he’s doing is a mistake,” Biden told the US network Univision
in an interview that aired on Tuesday night.
He urged
Netanyahu to “just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight
weeks, total access to all food and medicine going into” Gaza.
Washington’s
tougher line on aid has brought some results, the US Agency for International
Development said.
Recent days
had seen a “sea change” in aid deliveries, said USAID administrator
Samantha Power, although she insisted Israel needs to do more.
On
Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would “flood
Gaza with aid”, using a new crossing point on its northern border,
streamlined checks and two new routes organised with Jordan.
He said
they expected to hit 500 aid trucks entering Gaza a day, which would match the
average level of aid and commercial trucks reaching the territory before the
war.
Iran threatens
Israel
The war in
Gaza has raised fears that conflict could engulf the wider region.
Iran’s
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Israel on Wednesday that it
“must be punished and will be punished” for a strike on the Iranian
consulate in Damascus last week that Tehran has blamed on Israel.
Israeli
Foreign Minister Israel Katz replied with a Persian-language post saying:
“If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack
Iran”.
In response
to Iran’s threats, Biden on Wednesday promised “ironclad” support to
Israel.
“As I
told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against
these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” Biden said.
German
airline Lufthansa announced on Wednesday that it had suspended flights to and
from Tehran, probably until Thursday, saying it was “due to the current
situation in the Middle East”.