Israel resumed its shelling of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, after the United States reiterated its criticism of its ally for the war’s high civilian dead toll.
Residents told AFP that Israeli jets were striking downtown Gaza and artillery fire was targeting the territory’s south, while medics reported pulling many bodies from the wreckage of the most recent shelling.
Hours before, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told two top Israeli officials that Palestinian civilian casualties were still “unacceptably high.”
“We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict,” spokesman Matthew Miller said after Blinken meth Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.
Washington has been pushing for a truce between Israel and Hamas.
However, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh announced on Sunday that the organization was withdrawing from indirect talks for a compromise in response to recent Israeli “massacres,” including a huge hit on Sunday that killed at least 92 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Haniyeh stated that Hamas is willing to resume indirect talks if Israel “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal”.
Following the recent deadly attacks, doctors from the Palestinian Red Crescent reported recovering four bodies from a house in the southern city of Khan Yunis and another from the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The Israeli military stated that its air force had attacked “approximately 40 terror targets” in Gaza within the preceding 24 hours. These include “sniping posts, observation posts, Hamas military structures, terror infrastructure, and buildings rigged with explosives” .
It also stated that its troops were conducting targeted raids in the far south of Rafah and the central Gaza Strip.
Prisoner abuse allegations
The war began on October 7 with Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel, which killed 1,195 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
The militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 who the Israeli military claims are dead.
Israel reacted with a military onslaught that killed at least 38,664 people, the majority of them were civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
The Israeli military has also apprehended a large number of Gazans who have claimed torture, rape, and other forms of mistreatment in captivity, which Israeli officials have denied.
Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajna said Monday that captives reported guards using “electric prods” on their bodies.
After visiting arrested Palestinian journalists, Mahajna stated that one prisoner had a “fire extinguisher tube inserted into his buttocks and the fire extinguisher was turned on.”
According to the lawyer, prisoners were handcuffed while eating the scant meals offered, and detainees reported rampant sickness and untreated wounds.
Five Israeli human rights organizations have sued over circumstances in the Sde Teiman desert camp, where Gazans are being held. Israeli officials assert that they follow international law.
Mass displacement
Qatar and Egypt conducted indirect talks to end the deadly war, with US support, but months of conversations have yielded no results.
At the end of May, US President Joe Biden proposed a cease-fire roadmap that he claimed was drawn up by Israel, resulting in an intensification of talks.
However, despite discussions in Cairo and Doha, there has been no evidence of movement on how the strategy will be executed.
Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators who have marched to urge a solution to release the captives home, accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the conflict.
The battle has driven 90% of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents to flee their homes. Many have sought safety in UN-run schools, six of which have been targeted by Israeli airstrikes since July 6.
There have also been almost daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, a Hamas supporter.
On Monday, an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah fighter and his sister in the south Lebanon village of Bint Jbeil, according to Hezbollah and the state-run National News Agency.
Israel said its strike hit a Hezbollah arms depot.