Hamas says the escalation of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip is not helping negotiations to end the war and has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating obstacles to negotiations.
In a statement on Monday, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh warned that the “catastrophic consequences of what is happening in Gaza” could “reset the negotiation process to square one.”
Netanyahu and his army will bear “full responsibility for the collapse of this path,” Hamas said, citing Haniyeh.
The statement said Haniyeh made “urgent contact” with mediators Qatar and Egypt regarding the escalating actions of the Israeli military, which issued new evacuation orders for areas in Gaza City neighborhoods, displacing thousands of Palestinians, many of whom were forced to flee. Move. several times.
On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered the “immediate” evacuation of the neighborhoods of Tuffah, Daraj and the Old City of Gaza City in the north.
In a separate statement, Hamas accused Netanyahu of intensifying “his aggression and crimes against our people” in what it said were “attempts to forcibly displace them in order to frustrate all efforts to reach an agreement.”
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said Palestinians had been ordered to evacuate to central Gaza, despite the area already being “overwhelmed” with large numbers of displaced Palestinians. of the entire enclave.
Most of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, with hundreds of thousands crammed into suffocating tent camps.
Khoudary said he spoke to Palestinians who decided not to evacuate as “there was no safe place to go.” She said they did not “want to lose their dignity by being displaced in makeshift camps and not having access to food.” [and] water”.
Israeli forces also attacked tent camps housing displaced Palestinians. On June 8, Israeli forces stormed the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 274 Palestinians to free four Israeli prisoners held there.
Israel has killed at least 38,193 Palestinians and injured another 87,903 since October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday. A total of 40 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Israel expands military operations
Israeli tanks pounded the heart of Gaza City as its military ordered residents to leave after a night of massive shelling in areas they said had been largely vacated months ago.
Residents said the airstrikes and artillery barrages were among the heaviest in nine months, in what many human rights experts and governments called genocide.
The Israeli military said it had intelligence showing that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters were in the Gaza City area and urged residents to head south to the city of Deir el-Balah.
In Shujayea, a neighborhood of Gaza City that has seen weeks of fighting, the Israeli military said troops invaded and destroyed schools and a clinic.
Khoudary said the Israeli military has expanded ground operations around Shujayea.
“Some people tried to evacuate. Some people fled under extensive artillery bombardment and airstrikes; other people were trapped and couldn’t get out,” she said.
On Monday, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reported that new evacuation orders had been issued for the Rimal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City.
The new Israeli offensive comes at a time when Egypt, Qatar and the United States are intensifying efforts to broker a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas dropped its demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before the Palestinian movement signed an agreement.
But Netanyahu’s office reiterated in a statement on Sunday that “any agreement will allow Israel to return [to Gaza] and fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved.”
As talks repeatedly fail due to differences between the parties, mediators Egypt and Qatar were expected to host new meetings this week, officials said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
