The Japan Times - Israel says open to deal that includes 'ending the fighting' in Gaza

Israel's military has said the expansion of its campaign is aimed at "achieving all the war's objectives" including releasing hostages and "the defeat of Hamas".

But as the intensified operations got underway, Israel and Hamas were entering indirect talks in Qatar that the Palestinian group said were aimed at ending the war.

In a statement on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that "even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal -- whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting," referring to US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff who has been involved in previous discussions.

Such a deal, according to Netanyahu's statement, "would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip".

Ever since a two-month ceasefire fell apart in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to reach a breakthrough.

Netanyahu has opposed ending the war without Hamas's total defeat, while Hamas has balked at the prospect of handing over its weapons.

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said on Saturday that the talks in Doha had kicked off "without any preconditions from either side".

A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said that "positions are being exchanged by both sides in an attempt at bridging perspectives", adding the group was approaching the talks with "great flexibility".

- 'No one left' -

On the ground, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP on Sunday that 22 people were killed and at least 100 others wounded in a predawn attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Al-Mawasi, in the southern Gaza Strip.

AFPTV footage showed people sifting through the wreckage of ruined shelters and rescuers treating the wounded.

At a hospital in nearby Khan Yunis city, young men mourned over the shrouded bodies of loved ones laid out on the ground outside.

"All my family members are gone. There is no one left," said a distraught Warda al-Shaer standing amid the wreckage in Al-Mawasi.

"The children were killed as well as their parents. My mother died too, and my niece lost her eye."

Bassal said that the "series of violent Israeli air strikes" across Gaza overnight and in the early morning resulted in a total of "at least 33 martyrs, more than half of whom were children".

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel's intensified assault comes as international concern has mounted over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza due to a blockade on aid imposed on March 2.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, addressing an Arab League summit in Baghdad on Saturday, said he was "alarmed" at the escalation and called for "a permanent ceasefire, now".

The summit's final statement urged the international community "to exert pressure to end the bloodshed".

- Hospitals 'out of service' -

In Tel Aviv, demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Netanyahu's government and demand it strike a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

"Instead of bringing them all home by agreeing to the deal that is on the table, Netanyahu is dragging us into a needless political war that will lead to the death of the hostages and soldiers," said protester Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of slain hostage Avraham Munder.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

Israel has faced increasing pressure to lift its aid blockade, as UN agencies warn of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicine.

On Sunday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza accused Israel of laying siege to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, where it said "a state of panic and confusion is prevailing".

The ministry later said Israel had cut off the arrival of patients and staff, "effectively forcing the hospital out of service".

With "the shutdown of the Indonesian Hospital, all public hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate are now out of service", it said.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Gaza health ministry said that at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,339.

K.Yamaguchi--JT