Israeli forces step up offensive in Gaza on eve of new truce talks

Hamas says Israeli PM deliberately te intensifying battle toy thwart ceasefire deal

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Israel pushed on with a major military offensive in war-ravaged Gaza City on July 9 that the United Nations said has once again displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Troops, tanks and aircraft were involved in the fighting in Gaza’s biggest urban area on the eve of new truce talks in Qatar that aim to free the hostages and halt the conflict raging into its 10th month.

A source with knowledge of the talks said US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns and Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea would travel to Doha on July 10, and also meet the Qatari Prime Minister, a key mediator.

Hamas, whose Oct 7 attack started the war, has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately stepping up battles in Gaza City and in far-southern Rafah in order to thwart a ceasefire agreement.

The Islamist group’s Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh said he had made “urgent contact” with mediators, warning that the “catastrophic consequences” of the battles could “reset the negotiation process to square one”.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, described the latest Gaza City fighting as “the most intense in months”, with militants using rockets, mortars and explosives.

Israeli forces – after almost two weeks of battles in Gaza City’s eastern Shujaiya district – on July 8 intensified fighting and bombardment across the city’s east, west and south.

Residents reported overnight helicopter strikes, “explosions and numerous gun battles” in the city’s south-west.