By The Associated Press
A deal for a temporary cease fire was inching into view in Israel’s war against Hamas, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tempered expectations by vowing that the war would continue even if a deal is reached.
Senior Hamas officials said early Tuesday that an agreement was near that would include the militant group freeing hostages and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli Cabinet was expected to vote on a cease-fire proposal later in the day, and Netanyahu told troops during a visit to a training base that he hoped there would be good news.
Israel, the United States and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, have been negotiating for weeks over a hostage release that would be paired with a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and the entry of more humanitarian aid. Similar predictions of a hostage agreement in recent weeks have proven premature.
Israel’s army is widening its operations across northern Gaza, where they battled Palestinian militants on Tuesday in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, the territory’s largest.
The military said forces are “preparing the battlefield” in the Jabaliya area, just north of Gaza City, and have killed dozens of militants in recent days. Troops discovered three tunnel shafts where fighters were hiding and destroyed rocket launchers, it said.
It wasn’t possible to independently confirm details of the fighting. A strike on a nearby hospital killed 12 people on Monday as Israeli troops and tanks battled militants outside its gates.
Israel says Hamas uses civilians and hospitals as shields, while critics say Israel’s siege and relentless aerial bombardment amount to collective punishment of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians after Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and minors, and more than 2,700 others are missing and believed buried under rubble, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says it has been unable to update its count since Nov. 11 because of the health sector’s collapse.
Gaza health officials say the toll has risen sharply since, and hospitals continue to report deaths from daily strikes, often dozens at a time.
The Health Ministry in the West Bank last reported a toll of 13,300 but stopped providing its own count Tuesday without giving a reason. Because of that, and because officials there declined to explain in detail how they tracked deaths after Nov. 11, the AP decided to stop reporting its count.
Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the Oct. 7 attack, and around 240 were taken captive by militants.
Currently:
— South Africa’s president accuses Israel of war crimes and acts “tantamount to genocide” in Gaza
— Israel recalls ambassador ahead of South African vote on fate of embassy
— Iran-backed Yemen rebels’ attack on ship raises risks in crucial Red Sea
— German police raid homes of 17 people accused of posting antisemitic hate speech
— AP Photos: Babies born prematurely in Gaza have been evacuated to Egypt
— Cyprus’ president says his country is ready to ship aid to Gaza
— Ukrainians who fled their country for Israel find themselves again living with war
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s what’s happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:
FIGHTING IN JABALIYA SPILLS OVER TO HOSPITALS, AND STRIKE KILLS 3 DOCTORS
GAZA CITY — Four people, including three doctors, were killed when a hospital was struck amid intense fighting Tuesday in the Jabaliya refugee camp, the hospital director told Al-Jazeera TV.
The director of al-Awda hospital, Ahmed Mahna, blamed the strike on Israel, a claim that The Associated Press could not independently confirm. The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders confirmed that two of the doctors killed worked for it.
The group called for better protection of medical facilities, staff and patients in the besieged enclave.
“Seeing doctors killed next to hospital beds is beyond tragic, and this must stop now,” The aid group said in a post on X.
The Israeli military said Hamas fighters had retrenched in Jabaliya, a densely built district of concrete buildings near Gaza City that houses families displaced in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has bombarded the area for weeks.
NETANYAHU: WAR WILL CONTINUE AFTER ANY CEASE-FIRE
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel will continue its war against Hamas, even if a temporary cease-fire is reached with the Islamic militant group to release hostages.
In comments ahead of an expected Cabinet vote on a cease-fire proposal, Netanyahu vowed to press ahead.
“We are at war, and we will continue the war,” he said. “We will continue until we achieve all our goals.”
The Cabinet was expected to vote on a plan that would halt Israel’s offensive in Gaza for several days in exchange for the release of about 50 of the 240 hostages held by Hamas.
Israel has vowed to continue the war until it destroys Hamas’ military capabilities and returns all hostages.
EGYPT PM: WILL TAKE ‘ALL MEASURES’ TO KEEP PALESTINIANS FROM ENTERING
CAIRO — Egypt’s prime minister said Tuesday that Egypt will take “all measures” to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Egypt, as the Israeli army makes preparations to enter the south of besieged Gaza.
The comments by Mostafa Madbouly in a speech in Parliament were the strongest warning yet, hinting that military force could be used.
“Egypt will not hesitate in taking all measures that guarantees the protection of its borders,” Madbouly said.
Since the start of the conflict, Egypt has continually ruled out becoming a host nation for displaced Palestinians.
The North African country fears that a mass exodus of Palestinians onto Egyptian soil would nullify Palestinian demands for statehood, and jeopardies Egypt’s security and economy,
However, Egypt has allowed thousands of dual nationals and hundreds of injured and sick Palestinians to enter through the Rafah crossing from Gaza during past weeks.
