Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories: Israel pushed on with a major military offensive in war-ravaged Gaza City on Tuesday that the UN said has once again displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Troops, tanks and aircraft were 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 CIA director William Burns and Israel’s Mossad chief David Barnea would travel to Doha on Wednesday and also meet the Qatari prime minister, a key mediator.
Hamas’s 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 Monday 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 southwest.