Israeli says troops will remain in Gaza ‘security zones’

TEL AVIV

Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.

Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas to release hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire last month.

“Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

The military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza — as in Lebanon and Syria.”

The Palestinians and both neighboring countries view the presence of Israeli troops as military occupation in violation of international law. Hamas has said it will not release dozens of remaining hostages without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

“They promised that the hostages come first. In practice, Israel is choosing to seize territory before the hostages," the main organization representing families of the hostages said in a statement.

The minister also said that it would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

Israel has halted the entry of aid into Gaza since March 2, as the humanitarian crisis continues to grow amid ongoing military assaults.

"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said.

"No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid."

Israel's army said Wednesday it had turned 30 percent of Gaza into a "security" buffer zone and struck around 1,200 "terror targets" since resuming its military offensive in the Palestinian territory on March 18.

"Approximately 30 percent of the Gaza Strip's territory is now designated as an Operational Security Perimeter," the military said in a statement, adding that Israeli air strikes had hit "approximately 1,200 terror targets" and that "more than 100 targeted eliminations have been carried out" since March 18.

Meanwhile, at least 22 more Palestinians were killed in deadly Israeli airstrikes on civilian homes across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing medical sources, said 10 people were killed in a single deadly airstrike on a home in central Gaza City.

Three civilians were also killed in another strike on a home in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, the sources said.

Israeli fighter jets also hit another home in the northern town of Jabalia, leaving three people dead, a medical source told state-run Anadolu Agency.

The source said a Palestinian died of his wounds sustained in an earlier Israeli strike on eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Heavy artillery shelling was also reported overnight in the Abasan town east of Khan Younis and the outskirts of the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza, but no information was yet available about casualties.

The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

An estimated 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the end of the Gaza ceasefire, when Israel resumed military operations in the narrow coastal territory, the United Nations said Wednesday.

"Our humanitarian partners estimate that since March 18, about half a million people have been newly displaced or uprooted once more," said Stephanie Tremblay, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

At least 51,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

Hamas still preparing response to Israel's Gaza proposal

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that the group is still preparing its response to an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

"The movement's response is still in preparation, and we affirm that there is no room for any partial deal," Mahmoud Mardawi said, insisting that the group's "weapons will not be subject to any negotiations."

Israel’s offer includes a truce of at least 45 days in return for the release of 10 living hostages held in Gaza.

It also provides for the release of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory, which has been under complete blockade since March 2.

The proposal calls for a "permanent end to the war" on the condition Palestinian factions in Gaza, including Hamas, disarm.

Hamas previously rejected the disarmament demand as a "red line" and "non-negotiable.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday instructed his negotiating team to continue the steps to advance the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.

"The prime minister issued directives for the continuation of the steps to advance the release of our hostages," his office said in a statement, adding that he held an assessment on the issue with the negotiating team and the heads of the security establishment.