CAIRO: An Israeli air strike killed four Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, as Arab mediators and the United States tried to hammer out differences between Hamas and Israel over a Jan 19 ceasefire agreement.
Israel sent a delegation to the Qatari capital, Doha, for more ceasefire talks, and Hamas leaders ended a round of talks in Cairo earlier this week. But there has been no sign of a breakthrough to resolve the disputes that threaten a return to armed conflict.
Meanwhile, five Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin, taking the death toll from one of the largest operations in the territory, launched in January, to 30.
Fighting in Gaza has stopped since Jan 19 under a first phase of the truce, and Hamas has exchanged 33 Israeli prisoners and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Tens of thousands displaced by Israeli
aggression in occupied West
Bank since January
Hamas wants to begin talks on a second phase that was supposed to reach an agreement over Israel’s full pullout from the enclave. But Israel insists that Hamas free the remaining prisoners without beginning negotiations on phase two.
On Tuesday, Hamas accused Israel of trying to cause famine in Gaza by continuing to suspend the entry of aid and also by its decision to sever its last working line of electricity to the enclave, a move that impacted a water desalination and sewage treatment facility.
“We call on mediators to pressure the occupation to abide by its pledges and open the crossings immediately, to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and end the policy of collective punishment pursued by the occupation authorities against our people,” it said in a statement.
Israel cut aid flows of food, medicine, and fuel imports earlier this month, a move it said was designed to pressure Hamas in ceasefire talks. On Sunday, it announced an electricity cut, which aid groups say would deprive Gazans of clean water.
There is a risk that Gaza will experience another hunger crisis if Israel continues to block aid, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) in Gaza said on Monday, warning the situation is quickly deteriorating.
“I think the more we go ahead (with aid blockages), the more we will see the impact increasing on the population. And obviously, the risk … is that we go back to situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
Thousands displaced in West Bank
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in occupied West Bank since the Israeli operation began in January. Troops have swept through refugee camps in Jenin and nearby cities, demolishing houses and infrastructure, including roads and water pipes.
France, Germany and international groups, including the United Nations, have expressed alarm at the scale of the operation and called for restraint.
The Palestinian Authority said Israeli troops firing from a checkpoint killed a 60-year-old woman on Tuesday. The previous evening, a Palestinian man was killed when his motorcycle was hit by an Israeli army vehicle, the PA added.
The Authority also said its own security forces had killed a man wanted for opening fire on its headquarters in Jenin on previous occasions, an incident that drew a warning from Hamas of “serious repercussions”.
