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At least 70 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes amid ceasefire deal delay
Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 more people in Gaza overnight and during Thursday, Reuters reports residents and authorities in the territory said, hours after a prospective ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas which has devastated the Gaza Strip and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The deal is yet to be formally agreed, with Israel’s security cabinet delaying a planned Thursday morning meeting. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions. The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday, with Reuters citing senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq making the comment on Thursday morning.
Protests were staged on Thursday morning in Jerusalem opposing the deal, with the families of Israeli soldiers killed during the conflict placing mock coffins draped in Israeli flags in the street.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
An earlier report by Israel’s military of a falling projectile at a kibbutz close to the border with the Gaza Strip was later determined to be a false identification.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Key events
Israel’s military has announced that yesterday ten service personnel were wounded “as a result of an explosion of weapons in a military training base in southern Israel.”
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have made at least 22 arrests inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last night.
Families of Israeli soldiers who have been killed during the war since the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel on 7 October 2023 have gathered in Jerusalam to stage a protest against any ceasefire deal, setting up an installation of mock coffins draped in Israeli flags.
The IDF’s official figures state that “Since the beginning of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on 27 October, 2023, 405 soldiers have fallen in combat.”
Israeli authorities have named 840 soldiers and 69 police officers in total who have been killed in conflict including the 7 October attack itself.
Here are some of the latest images from Gaza, where Palestinian news sources reports that at least 50 people have been killed since dawn by Israeli airstrikes.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has said that its investigation into the fallen projectile it reported earlier in Nir Am, close to the Gaza Strip, has determined it to be “a false identification.”
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday
Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
Reuters cited senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq making the comment on Thursday morning.
The report comes a few minutes after the office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that it had cancelled the planned Israeli security cabinet meeting to approve the deal, accusing Hamas of reneging “on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions.”
Under the terms of the agreement a first batch of 33 hostages is expected to be released on Sunday in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and wounded people in Gaza will be allowed to leave for medical treatment.
Netanyahu’s office says cabinet won’t meet to approve ceasefire deal until Hamas backs down on ‘last minute concessions’
Israel’s security cabinet has delayed a planned meeting to approve a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accusing Hamas of attempting to obtain ‘last minute concessions’ on some aspects of the deal.
Reuters quotes Netanyahu’s office saying “Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last minute concessions. The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”
Originally scheduled for 11am (9am GMT), the Jerusalem Post had earlier reported the security cabinet delay had been caused because “the hostage deal delegation hasn’t finished its work in Qatar and returned to Israel.”
It reported “When the delegation returns, the security cabinet will convene.”
More details soon …
A group of Israelis have been protesting in Jerusalem against the prospect of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Police intervened, dragging at least one person away from the scene.
Haaretz reports that MK Zvi Succot, who represents the Religious Zionism party led by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, has said there is “a high likelihood” the party will quit Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government if a deal with Hamas is approved.
It quotes him speaking on Israeli public radio, saying:
If the deal leads to halting the war without achieving its objectives, there is no point in continuing our partnership in the government.
We are in discussions with the prime minister to secure guarantees that the war will continue.
There is nothing we could accept, neither budgets nor positions, not even a shift in the West Bank where we are dismantling the Palestinian state, that outweighs this issue.
