Qatari officials were “cautiously optimistic” after talks with Israel’s intelligence chief in Doha aimed at trying to reach a cease-fire, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday at a news conference, stressing that an Israeli ground operation in Rafah would set back any talks.
Meanwhile, incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa laid out wide-ranging plans for a revitalized Palestinian Authority and an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction in a mission statement acquired Tuesday by The Associated Press. But the plans face major obstacles, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to any return of the PA to Gaza.
Fighting in the enclave has left at least 31,819 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead. A United Nations food agency warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza.
Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people in the surprise Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza that triggered the war, and and abducted another 250 people. Hamas is still believed to be holding some 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of 30 others.
Currently:
— Incoming Palestinian prime minister lays out plans for reform but faces major obstacles.
— Israelis evacuated from the Lebanese border wonder if they’ll ever return.
— Netanyahu agrees to send Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a prospective Rafah operation.
— Israel urges a top United Nations court to reject South Africa’s request for more emergency orders in a genocide case.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
SENIOR HAMAS MILITANT AMONG THOSE KILLED IN HOSPITAL RAID, ISRAEL SAYS
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it has killed more than 50 militants in its ongoing raid at the biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The military said Tuesday that forces have arrested around 180 suspects. It was not possible to confirm whether those killed were combatants.
Israel launched the raid at Shifa Hospital overnight into Monday, saying Hamas had regrouped in the compound and was directing attacks from it. The military said gunmen fired on its forces from inside and that one of its soldiers was killed during the raid.
The army said it killed a senior Hamas militant who was armed and hiding inside the hospital. Palestinian officials said he was a senior commander in the Hamas-run police who was coordinating the protection of convoys.
The army last raided Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center within and beneath the facility.
The military revealed a tunnel leading to some underground rooms, as well as weapons it said were found inside the hospital. But the evidence fell short of the earlier claims, and critics accused the army of recklessly endangering the lives of civilians.
Shifa, like most of Gaza’s hospitals, has mostly stopped functioning for lack of electricity, fuel and supplies. Gaza’s Health Ministry said around 30,000 Palestinians were sheltering there at the time of this week’s raid.
GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY RAISES PALESTINIAN DEATH TOLL TO MORE THAN 31,800
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s Health Ministry says 93 bodies have been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to 31,819.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures but says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed. The Israeli military says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Israel launched its offensive against Hamas after Palestinian militants stormed across the border on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and dragging around 250 hostages back to Gaza.
Palestinian health officials say at least 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes late Monday in the southern city of Rafah, where Israel has vowed to expand its ground offensive. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies, from four separate strikes, at a nearby hospital. One of the strikes killed a man, his wife and their three children.
Israel blames the civilian death toll on Hamas because it fights in dense, residential neighborhoods. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
QATARI OFFICIALS ARE ‘CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC’ AFTER CEASE-FIRE TALKS WITH ISRAEL’S INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
DOHA, Qatar — Israel’s intelligence chief has left Doha after talks aimed at trying to reach a cease-fire, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday at a news conference, adding that Qatari officials were “cautiously optimistic” about the negotiations.
Al-Ansari said Mossad chief David Barnea had left Qatar already. He said technical negotiations between Israel and Hamas were ongoing, with Qatar carrying messages between the parties.
“I don’t think we’re at a moment now where we can say that we are close to a deal,” al-Ansari said. “It’s still too early to announce any successes.”
He stressed that any Israeli ground operation in Rafah would be a “catastrophe” and could set back any talks.
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Associated Press writer Lujain Jo contributed.
INCOMING PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER LAYS OUT HIS PLANS FOR GOVERNMENTAL REFORM
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The incoming Palestinian prime minister says he will appoint a technocratic government and establish an independent trust fund to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction.
In a mission statement acquired Tuesday by The Associated Press, Mohammad Mustafa laid out wide-ranging plans for the kind of revitalized Palestinian Authority called for by the United States as part of its postwar vision for resolving the conflict. But the Palestinian Authority has no power in Gaza, from which Hamas drove its forces in 2007, and only limited authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In his mission statement, Mustafa said he would appoint a “non-partisan, technocratic government that can gain both the trust of our people and the support of the international community.” He promised wide-ranging reforms of PA institutions and a “zero tolerance” policy toward corruption and said he would seek to reunify the territories and create an “independent, competent and transparent agency for Gaza’s recovery and reconstruction and an internationally managed trust fund to raise, manage and disburse the required funds.”
The vision statement made no mention of Hamas, which won a landslide victory the last time Palestinians held national elections, in 2006, and which polls indicate still has significant support.
Mustafa said the PA aims to hold presidential and parliamentary elections, but he did not give a timetable and said it would depend on “realities on the ground” in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war that the Palestinians want for their future state.
ISRAELI STRIKES HIT SEVERAL MILITARY POSTS NEAR DAMASCUS, SYRIAN STATE MEDIA SAYS
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s state media says Israeli airstrikes have hit several military posts near the capital, Damascus, causing material damage but no casualties.
State-news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that some of the missiles were shot down by Syrian air defenses before they hit their targets.
There was no immediate comment from Israel regarding the early Tuesday strikes. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in recent years, mainly aimed at Iran-linked targets in Syria, but rarely acknowledges them.
The strikes have escalated over the past five months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza and the daily exchange of fire between the militant Hezbollah group and Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border.
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