FALCON POWERS – The Israeli news site “Walla News” reported that the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Herzi Halevi, directed the intensification of military operations in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, and allocated additional resources for the army there.
Israeli army estimates suggest that eliminating the Hamas “Rafah Brigade” would improve the current negotiation conditions for the release of detainees, according to the “Walla News” report.
This comes as Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight led to the martyrdom of 19 people, including a woman and her six children. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is heading to the region today, Sunday, in an attempt to broker a ceasefire agreement after months of negotiations. The United States and the other mediating countries, Egypt and Qatar, appear to be close to reaching an agreement after two days of talks in Doha, where US and Israeli officials have expressed cautious optimism. However, Hamas has indicated its rejection of what it says are new demands from Israel.
The evolving proposals call for a three-stage process in which Hamas releases all the prisoners it kidnapped during its attack on October 7th. In return, Israel withdraws its forces from Gaza and releases Palestinian prisoners.
The mediators hope to end the war in which Israel killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, displaced the vast majority of the 2.3 million residents of the Strip, and caused a humanitarian disaster.
The latest Israeli bombardment included an early morning airstrike on a home in the town of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of a woman and her six children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that an airstrike on the town of Jabalia in the north targeted two apartments in a residential building, resulting in the martyrdom of two men, a woman, and her daughter. Another airstrike in central Gaza resulted in the martyrdom of four people, according to the Al-Awda Hospital.
