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Deadly strikes pound Gaza as Netanyahu scuppers truce plan
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up the pressure on Hamas as hopes fade for a US-announced cease-fire plan. Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of deliberately undermining negotiations for a truce and captive release deal because it did not want to end the war.
The Israeli military said it had carried out 25 strikes in 24 hours on Gaza.
Netanyahu insisted Tuesday that despite mounting pressure, there would be no let-up in Israel’s attacks.
“This is exactly the time to increase the pressure even more, to bring home all the hostages -– the living and the dead –- and to achieve all the war objectives,” he said. The health ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday that 81 people, most of them women and children, had been killed in Israeli strikes in 24 hours.
At least 90 percent of Gazans have been forced from their homes, many of them seeking refuge in UN-run schools. Seven of them have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.
Nearly 70 percent of UN-run schools across Gaza have been hit during more than nine months of fighting, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
“Why do they target us when we are innocent people?” asked Umm Mohammed al-Hasanat, sheltering with her family at a UN-run school in Nuseirat, which was among those hit.
“We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children.”
Washington has been pushing for a truce deal between Israel and Hamas since President Joe Biden released details of what he said was an Israeli cease-fire roadmap on May 31.
But despite the efforts of Egyptian and Qatari mediators, indirect negotiations between the foes have made no headway.
In a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan late Tuesday, the Hamas leader blamed Israel for the deadlock.