Gaza war in its 12th month with truce hopes slim

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of victims of Israeli bombardment in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza – Copyright AFP Eyad BABA

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza entered its 12 month Saturday with little sign of respite for the Palestinian territory or hope for Israeli hostages still held captive.

The chances of a truce that would also free hostages held by Hamas in exchange for prisoners held by Israel appear slim, with both sides sticking doggedly to their positions.

Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war, is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that troops must remain on a key strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have all been mediating in an effort to bring about a ceasefire in the war that authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza say has killed at least 40,939 people.

According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children.

Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.

Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.

Israel’s announcement last Sunday that the bodies of six hostages including a US-Israeli citizen had been recovered shortly after being killed sparked grief and anger in Israel.

Marking the anniversary, UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X on Saturday: “Eleven months. Enough. No one can take this any longer. Humanity must prevail. Ceasefire now.”

International pressure to end the war was further underlined by Friday’s shooting dead in the West Bank of a Turkish-American activist demonstrating against Israeli settlements in the occupied territory.

The family of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has demanded an independent investigation into her death, saying on Saturday her life “was taken needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military”.

The UN rights office said Israeli forces killed Eygi with a “shot in the head”.

Ankara said she was killed by “Israeli occupation soldiers”, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the Israeli action as “barbaric”.

Washington called her death “tragic”, and has pressed its close ally Israel to investigate.

– West Bank raid –

Israeli settlements in the West Bank — where about 490,000 people live — are illegal under international law.

Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 662 Palestinians in the West Bank which Israel occupied in 1967, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 23 Israelis, including members of the security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, Israeli officials say.

Eygi’s death came on the day Israeli forces withdrew from a deadly 10-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, where AFP journalists reported residents returning home to widespread destruction.

The Jenin pullout came with Israel at loggerheads with the United States over talks to forge a truce in the Gaza war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday “90 percent is agreed” and urged Israel and Hamas to finalise a deal.

But Netanyahu denied this, telling Fox News: “It’s not close.”

Hamas is demanding Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, saying it agreed months ago to a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

AFP reporters said several air strikes and shelling rocked the territory overnight and early Saturday.

Gaza’s civil defence agency and the Palestinian Red Crescent said an Israeli air strike killed four people near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

The civil defence and a witness said an air strike that targeted a flat in Bureij camp killed another four.

And in Jabalia, an Israeli air strike killed four more Palestinians, civil defence officials said.

They added that a woman and a child were also killed in an air strike north of Gaza City.

Medics reported at least 33 Palestinians wounded in an air strike on a residential area in Beit Lahia and said they were being treated at Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals.

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