CAIRO: Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south of the shattered territory. Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home, where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests seen since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held by Palestinian groups in Gaza. The planned offensive has spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts in what a source familiar, with the talks with Hamas in Cairo said could be "the last-ditch attempt."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas' last big urban bastion. But, with Israel already holding 75% of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.
In Gaza City, many Palestinians have also been calling for protests soon to demand an end to a war that has demolished much of the territory and wrought a humanitarian disaster, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive. An Israeli armoured incursion into Gaza City could see the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times earlier in the war.
Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south. With the Israeli offensive looming, Mheisen put the number of tents needed for emergency shelter at 1.5 million, saying Israel had allowed only 120,000 tents into the territory during a January-March ceasefire.
The UN humanitarian office said last week 1.35 million people were already in need of emergency shelter items in Gaza. "The people of Gaza City are like someone who received a death sentence and is awaiting execution," said Tamer Burai, a Gaza City businessman. "I am moving my parents and my family to the south today or tomorrow. I can't risk losing any of them should there be a surprising invasion," he said.
The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in late July in deadlock with the sides trading blame for its collapse. Sources close to the Cairo talks said Egyptian and Qatari mediators had met with leaders of Hamas and other factions with little progress reported. Talks will continue on Monday, the sources added. Hamas told mediators it was ready to resume talks about a US-proposed 60-day truce and release of half the hostages, one official, who asked not to be named, said, but also for a wider deal that would end the war.
A Hamas official said on Monday that the group continues to reject Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza. Gaps also appear to linger regarding the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave, where malnutrition is rife and aid groups warn of unfolding famine.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Gazans with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave. "Existing tents where people are living (in the south) have worn out and won't protect people against rainwater.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel's ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to local health officials, with most of the 2.2 million population internally displaced. Five more Palestinians have died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday, raising the number of people who died of those causes to 263, including 112 children, since the war started. — Reuters
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