Israel defense minister says it is trying to avoid civilian casualties
Israel’s defense minister says it is trying to avoid harming civilians as it strikes Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, officials say Egypt has introduced a new proposal to try and get the ceasefire back on track.
Hamas would release five living hostages, including an American-Israeli, in return for Israel allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and a weekslong pause in the fighting, an Egyptian official said Monday. Israel would also release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas official said the group had “responded positively” to the proposal, without elaborating. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media on the closed-door talks.
Israel Katz’s statement came nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes.
Katz said Monday that “Israel is not fighting the civilians in Gaza and is doing everything that international law requires to mitigate harm to civilians.”
He went on to blame Hamas for any civilian deaths, saying the terrorist group “fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians,” putting them in danger.
He said Israel would not halt its offensive until Hamas releases all its hostages and is no longer in control of Gaza or a threat to Israel.
Later, air raid sirens and explosions were heard over Jerusalem on Monday evening after the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
Yemen’s Houthi terrorists have fired a handful of long-range missiles at Israel in the days since Israeli forces resumed the war in Gaza. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from the Houthis.
Two more rockets were intercepted after crossing into Israeli territory next to the Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens on Monday evening, the Israeli military said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group, claimed responsibility for firing a barrage of rockets toward the area of southern Israel bordering Gaza.
In other developments:
* The United Nations said Monday it will “reduce its footprint” in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli tank strike hit one of its compounds, killing one staffer and wounding five others last week.
Israel has denied it was behind the March 19 explosion at the U.N. guesthouse in central Gaza. In a statement Monday, U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said that “based on the information currently available,” the strikes on the site “were caused by an Israeli tank.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
* Israel said it fired on a Red Cross office in Gaza by mistake. The Israeli military said its troops shot at the building after identifying a threat from Palestinian terrorists.
“It was later determined that the identification was false,” the military said, adding that the soldiers didn’t realize the building was being used by the Red Cross.
“The incident will be reviewed,” the brief statement said. The Red Cross said the building was damaged but no staff members were hurt.
* Israeli settlers beat up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” in the West Bank on Monday, and he was then detained by the Israeli military, activists on the scene said.
They attacked Hamdan Ballal, one of the documentary’s co-directors, leaving his head bleeding, the activists said. As he was being treated in an ambulance, soldiers detained him and a second Palestinian man, the group said. It said his whereabouts were now unknown.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the episode but did not immediately comment.
