Palestinians flee fighting and intense bombardment as Israel tightens ‘strangehold’

AFP | Gaza City                                               

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing on foot yesterday in a surge away from the fighting and intense bombardment in Gaza as Israel said it was tightening the “stranglehold” around Gaza City.

But as people escaped south from Gaza City, many with nothing but the clothes they wore, details began to emerge of a potential three-day halt in fighting in negotiations to secure the release of 12 hostages.

Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians have built over a month into the war sparked when Hamas attacked Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.

The health ministry in Gaza says more than 10,500 people have been killed in Gaza, many of them children, during Israel’s retaliatory military campaign to destroy the Palestinian fighters. A source told AFP that talks were underway for the release of a dozen of the hostages, including six Americans, in return for a pause in hostilities that would also allow time to deliver humanitarian aid.

Negotiations

Earlier yesterday, a source briefed on the process told AFP that Qatar was mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the release of up to 15 hostages. As the talks proceeded, the pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing south from northern Gaza accelerated as Israel’s air and ground campaign intensified, according to UN observers.

About 15,000 people had fled on Tuesday, compared with 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, as another surge was underway yesterday.

“We’ve lost our homes, we’ve lost our children. Where is the global community? Where are our fellow Muslims? Look at us!” said Nouh Hammouda, who was among those fleeing.

“We left our homes due to the relentless bombardment. Where can we go now?” he said as people streamed southward on the road.

Troops advancing

Israel has set an aim of destroying Hamas and said its ground forces were advancing in pursuit of the Hamas fighters who have a deep network of tunnels and underground bases.

“Israeli troops are tightening the stranglehold around the city of Gaza,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said. Israel has air-dropped leaflets and sent texts ordering civilians in northern Gaza to flee south, but potentially hundreds of thousands remained in the worst-hit areas. Hamas accused the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) of “colluding” with Israel in the “forced displacement” of Gazans, after residents followed instructions to flee.

An UNRWA spokeswoman did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP about the Hamas accusation. G7 foreign ministers said they supported “humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Israel-Hamas war, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.