Tel Aviv [Israel], September 13: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced that six staff members were killed in two airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip on September 11, according to AFP.
The air strikes hit a school that was used as a shelter for around 12,000 people. The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas command and control centre in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Hamas said a total of 18 people were killed, including UNRWA staff. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced Israel, saying "what is happening in the Gaza Strip is completely unacceptable".
The war in the Gaza Strip has lasted for more than 11 months, but shows no signs of stopping. Several rounds of negotiations have been held, but the parties have not reached a final agreement. On September 11, a Hamas delegation arrived in Qatar to work with Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate Abbas Kamel of the host country. According to The Jerusalem Post, the meeting was aimed at urging Hamas to abandon its new demand for the release of more Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons. Hamas later issued a statement saying it was ready to immediately cease fire based on the previous US proposal, and that neither side had set new conditions.
In May, US President Joe Biden presented a three-phase proposal that he said Israel would accept, including a ceasefire, an exchange of hostages and prisoners, and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip . However, the main obstacle to a deal now is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on maintaining a military presence along the Philadelphia Corridor, a demilitarized zone along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, to prevent weapons supplies to Hamas.
The parties have not yet responded to Hamas' new statement. The US, Egypt and Qatar are said to be working on a new proposal.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
