The Israeli military has advanced further into the southern and western regions of Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday.
In the early hours of Monday, the military began what it called counterterrorism operations in the northern Gaza area and called on civilians to leave before the operation began, the IDF said.
IDF troops arrived at the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, it said.
Army radio reported clashes with armed members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to reports from Palestinian hospitals, at least 15 people were killed. The number of casualties could still rise because rescue teams are unable to reach many residential areas due to the fighting.
Dpa is unable to independently verify reports.
The Israeli military has previously advanced into the northern section of the coastal area besieged during the war.
Residents of the affected neighborhoods described the nighttime advance as a “night of terror”.
The catalyst for Israel’s war in Gaza was the unprecedented massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7 last year in southern Israel.
The militants killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage in the Gaza Strip. Israel estimates that around 120 kidnapping victims are still in the coastal area, although many of them are probably no longer alive.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health authority, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far. This number includes combatants and civilians.
Israeli army says it targets militants inside school in Gaza
On Monday night, the Israeli army said it launched airstrikes against several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militants who were hiding inside a school in central Gaza.
The army used precision munitions to avoid civilian casualties while targeting the group of fighters hiding in the building in the Nuseirat area, the IDF said, without giving further details.
The army again accused both militant groups, Hamas and PIJ, of “systematically violating humanitarian law” by using “civilian facilities and the population as human shields.”
This comes after the IDF recently said it was targeting Hamas fighters on the premises of a former UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat. According to Hamas, 16 people were killed in air strikes on the school complex.
According to the army, the militants used the school as an operational base for attacks on the Israeli military, stressing that measures were taken before the attacks to reduce the risks to civilians.
It was not possible to independently verify either side’s claims.
Israelis in Cairo for indirect negotiations
An Israeli delegation has left for Cairo for indirect talks with Hamas to negotiate a ceasefire agreement, Israel’s Kan radio reported on Monday.
The Israeli delegation is led by Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet national intelligence service, he said.
The discussions, which have been going on for months with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the USA, aim at a ceasefire in the Gaza war and an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Mediators are currently working on formulations to bridge existing gaps on controversial issues.
Hamas is reportedly showing flexibility and has deviated from its central demand that Israel commit to ending the war.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fundamentally insists on Israel’s right to continue fighting even after the implementation of a future agreement.
On Sunday night, Netanyahu’s office released a document stating that any ceasefire agreement must allow Israel to resume fighting until all war objectives are achieved.
Israel has declared the total dismantling of Hamas as a military formation and government power in the Gaza Strip as one of its war aims.
Critics interpreted the condition that Netanyahu described as “non-negotiable” as an attempt to derail the resumption of negotiations in Cairo and Qatar.
