In another dangerous escalation, Israeli occupation forces raided the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza overnight on Monday.
Israel’s negotiators will offer a six-week truce in Gaza for the release of 40 captives from Hamas during the talks in Qatar this week, Reuters reported on Monday, citing an Israeli official.
The report came as talks resumed in Doha on Monday after Israel sent a delegation to the Gulf state for another round of negotiations in hopes of reaching a breakthrough following a prolonged stalemate.
The Israeli official estimated that the current talks would take at least two weeks due to the gaps between Israel and Hamas.
On March 7, talks in Cairo between officials from Qatar, the United States, and Hamas failed to achieve a breakthrough after Israel rejected the Palestinian group’s demand for a ceasefire and withdrawal of forces from Gaza.
Hamas had submitted a new proposal for a three-stage plan, each lasting 42 days, on Friday sources told Al Jazeera.
The proposal entailed the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Al-Rashid and Salah Al-Din streets, the two vital roads that enable the return of displaced Palestinians to the north and the entry of aid.
In the second stage, Hamas demanded a permanent ceasefire before further exchanges of captives and prisoners. The third phase would then involve the reconstruction and lifting of the siege on Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Hamas’s demands as “absurd” and “unrealistic,” a response that has been widely expected due to his refusal to end the war on Gaza.
On the same day, Netanyahu approved the invasion of Rafah and the evacuation of Palestinians from the area after months of planning to expand their military operations.
Rafah shares a border with Egypt and has been serving as a shelter for more than one million Palestinians displaced by the Israeli war on Gaza.
A 10-page leaked document dated October 13, 2023, by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence, revealed Israel’s plans to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai. The document recommended establishing tent cities and permanent ones in the northern Sinai.
Netanyahu previously said that a deal would only delay the Rafah invasion, vowing to continue the war on Gaza.
The war is approaching its sixth month without a ceasefire in sight, with at least 31,726 Palestinians killed by Israel and 73,792 others wounded.
In another dangerous escalation, Israeli occupation forces raided the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in northern Gaza overnight on Monday, preventing people trapped inside from fleeing the area.
Israel claimed that Hamas members were hiding at the medical facility, echoing past claims that have been debunked by numerous independent investigations.
Reports from correspondents on the ground said Israeli forces fired at thousands of displaced and wounded Palestinians inside the facility including medics.
Israel has also detained Palestinians at Al-Shifa including Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul and other press crews while destroying their vehicles. Al Jazeera said occupation forces severely beat up Al-Ghoul before detaining him along with other men and women before taking them to an undisclosed location.
Israel had carried out a similar deadly raid at Al-Shifa in November last year, forcing approximately 1.1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza to the south. Occupation forces had also kidnapped Al-Shifa’s director Muhammad Abu Salmiya on November 23.
His whereabouts remain unknown.
