Battles continue in Gaza as mediation over hostage deal continues

Fierce battles raged in Gaza city on Friday as contacts continued over a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

On day 35 of the Israel-Hamas war, air strikes and clashes were reported in proximity to a number of hospitals, where thousands of residents have been seeking shelter.

The director of Gaza’s biggest hospital, al-Shifa, said medical teams would not leave.

Israel accuses Hamas militants of using hospitals and ambulances and of locating control and command centres inside or underneath medical facilities.

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The Israeli military says ground, air and naval forces continue to strike Hamas targets across the Strip, including command centres, rocket launchers, weapons depots, tunnels and other infrastructure sites.

Thousands more residents fled south on Friday as Israeli forces said they had secured a safe passage.

About one million residents have already left the northern Gaza Strip away from the worst battles.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported on Friday that more than 11,000 people have been killed since the war broke out on October 7th, including more than 4,500 children. The conflict began when an estimated 1,400 people were killed in Israel, the vast majority civilians, after some 3,000 heavily-armed gunmen stormed across the Gaza border.

Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, has warned of possible war crimes being committed by both sides.

“Any use by Palestinian armed groups of civilians to shield themselves from attack is in contravention of the laws of war. But such contact by Palestinian armed groups does not absolve Israel of its obligation to ensure civilians are spared,” he said.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) will maintain military control of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war. Meeting mayors of Gaza border communities, he said: “IDF forces will maintain control in the Strip; we will not hand it over to external forces.”

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said his Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank, is ready to assume responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, but only as part of a comprehensive political solution that also includes the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken, speaking in New Delhi, said “far too many Palestinians have died” and more should be done to protect civilian lives. “There are other steps that we’ve discussed with Israel. I can simply say that there is more that can and should be done to minimise harm to Palestinian civilians.”

The leaders of Qatar and Egypt met in Cairo on Friday, aiming to mediate a prisoner release deal. Under discussion, according to a number of reports, is a wide deal involving the release of dozens of Israeli and foreign national hostages in return for a ceasefire lasting a few days and other concessions from Israel.

[ 'Death is everywhere': The Gaza residents defying Israel's order to evacuate ]

However, the negotiations are ongoing and the details of the possible deal remain under wraps. According to unconfirmed media reports, an agreement is being negotiated between Israel and Hamas for the release of Palestinian women and child prisoners held in Israeli in return for the release of one hundred of the 239 hostages held in Gaza.

One of the hostages is eight-year-old Israeli, Irish citizen Emily Hand, who was seized form kibbutz Be’eri, close to the Gaza border.

Hizbullah confirmed that seven of its members were killed in an IDF attack in Syria. It came in response to a drone strike, originating from Syria, that hit a school in Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat on Thursday.

Exchanges of fire also continued across the border between Israel and south Lebanon, where tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border have fled.