The Israeli army has advanced further into the southern and western regions of Gaza City, located in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army (IDF) reported on Monday.
Early Monday morning, the army began what it called counter-terror operations in the area and called on civilians to leave before the operation began, the IDF said.
IDF troops reached the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, the report said.
On Monday, army radio reported clashes with armed members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. According to Palestinian hospital reports, at least 15 people have been killed. The number of casualties could rise as rescue workers are unable to reach many residential areas due to the fighting.
DPA cannot independently verify the reports.
The Israeli army has previously advanced into the northern part of the besieged coastal area during the war.
Residents of the affected neighborhoods described the night-time advance as a “night of terror.”
Hezbollah militant killed in Lebanon
In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army killed a fighter from the Iran-backed Islamic militant group Hezbollah in a targeted airstrike.
The man was hit by a drone while riding a motorcycle in the Tyros district, Hezbollah reported.
The Israeli military confirmed the targeted strike and said the person killed was part of a Hezbollah rocket unit involved in several attacks on Israeli territory.
The trigger for Israel’s war in Gaza was the unprecedented massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7 last year.
The militants killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages to the Gaza Strip. Israel estimates that there are still around 120 kidnapping victims in the coastal area, although many of them are probably no longer alive.
Since then, Hezbollah has repeatedly fired rockets and other projectiles into northern Israel in what the group calls “solidarity” with Hamas.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health authority, more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far. This figure includes both fighters and civilians.
Israelis in Cairo for indirect talks
An Israeli delegation has traveled to Cairo for indirect talks with the militant Palestinian Hamas group to negotiate a ceasefire, Israeli radio station Kan reported on Monday.
The Israeli delegation is led by Ronen Bar, the head of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, the report said.
The talks, which have been ongoing for months and are mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US, are aimed at a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and an exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Mediators are currently working on formulations to close the existing gaps in the areas of contentious issues.
Hamas is reportedly showing flexibility and has deviated from its core demand that Israel commit to ending the war.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains that Israel has the right to continue fighting even after a future agreement is implemented.
On Sunday evening, Netanyahu’s office released a document saying that any ceasefire agreement must allow Israel to resume fighting until all war goals are achieved.
Israel has declared the complete dismantling of Hamas as a military formation and as a governing force in the Gaza Strip as one of its war goals.
Critics interpreted the condition that Netanyahu described as “non-negotiable” as an attempt to thwart the resumed talks in Cairo and Qatar.
Protests in Israel over hostage deal
Last weekend, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Israeli cities to increase pressure on Netanyahu and ensure that an agreement is finally reached on the release of the hostages.
The Israeli prime minister governs with ultra-religious and far-right coalition partners who reject concessions to Hamas. Netanyahu, who has long been facing a corruption trial, depends on these partners for his political survival.
