The Japan Times - Israel launches fresh strikes on Gaza as Qatar fears for truce

The new strikes came the morning after one of the deadliest days in the Gaza Strip since the truce began on October 10, and after Israel launched a series of attacks targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon despite the nearly year-long ceasefire there.

Qatar, a key mediator in the Hamas-Israel war, condemned the latest air strikes as "a dangerous escalation that threatens to undermine the ceasefire agreement".

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the Gaza civil defence agency, which operates under Hamas authority, told AFP that five people were killed and several wounded Thursday in strikes and artillery shelling east of Khan Yunis in the south.

The Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said three of those killed came from one family, including a one-year-old girl.

"We were sleeping peacefully," said a grieving Sabri Abu Sabt, visibly exhausted after losing his son and grand-daughter. "We are peaceful and we don't want war."

Tala Abu Al-Ala, who lost her sister, told AFP: "Every day there are martyrs. Every day we lose a relative. When will we find relief? Don't we have the right to live?"

Fighting back tears, she added: "I'm afraid I'll die without achieving any of my life's dreams."

- 'Nothing has really changed' -

Israel has carried out repeated strikes against what it says are Hamas targets during the ceasefire, resulting in the death of more than 312 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

"We are worried about the war returning," said Lina Kuraz, 33, from the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

"Every time we try to regain hope, the shelling starts again. When will this nightmare end?"

Mohammed Hamdouna, who was displaced from northern Gaza to a tent in the south said "nothing has really changed".

"The intensity of the death toll has decreased, but martyrs and shelling happen every day," the 36-year-old told AFP.

"We are still living in tents. The cities are rubble, the crossings are still closed, and all the basic necessities of life are still lacking."

- Yellow Line -

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed 14 people in Gaza City and 13 in Khan Yunis, according to the civil defence agency.

In Gaza City, Ahlam Halas carried the four-month-old daughter of her nephew, who was among those killed on Wednesday.

"He didn't even get the chance to rejoice in her birth and hear her call him 'papa'," she said.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire deal, Israeli troops in Gaza have withdrawn behind the so-called Yellow Line.

"We are aware of a strike east of the Yellow Line that was done to dismantle terror infrastructures," the Israeli military told AFP after Thursday morning's operation, referring to an area under the army's control.

Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian accused Hamas of "continuing to violate the ceasefire", with "terrorists crossing over the Yellow Line".

"Israel made the decision independently to conduct these air strikes and did not ask for permission to protect ourselves and our people."

An American official told AFP that "the US was notified in advance" of the strikes by Israel.

- Hamas appeals to mediators -

Hamas urged US President Donald Trump -- who helped broker the ceasefire -- and other international mediators to put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.

"This violation requires serious and effective action from the mediators to pressure (Israel) to stop these violations and uphold the ceasefire agreement," Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Islamist movement, told AFP in Gaza City.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.

Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 69,546 people, according to figures from the health ministry that the UN considers reliable.

Retired brigadier general Eran Ortal, a senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies outside Tel Aviv, told AFP that Israel was "under international pressure" to preserve the ceasefire, with Washington "mobilising the entire region" with a view to striking wider deals.

"Therefore, although Hamas has not been disarmed, and there is a strong likelihood that it will also manage to avoid disarmament in the near future, the potential for renewed warfare in Gaza does not appear high."

S.Suzuki--JT