Mixed messages have been sent about the prospects for a truce agreement in the War between Israel and Hamas On Tuesday, the death toll continued to rise on both sides. Civil defense officials in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip said an Israeli strike on a school used as a shelter in the enclave’s largest city killed at least 12 people.
The attack on the Mostafa Hafez School in Gaza City occurred as a children’s activity was taking place next to the building, officials in the territory told CBS News. The Israel Defense Forces said warplanes struck the school while it was being used as a Hamas command center.
“The command and control center was integrated and hidden by the Hamas terrorist organization inside” the school, the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that “numerous measures were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.”
Dawoud Abou Alkas/Reuters
The Israeli military also announced Tuesday that its troops had recovered the bodies of six other hostages in Gaza. Five of them had already been killed in captivity, and a sixth was confirmed Tuesday. Israeli authorities said the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry were found near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis during an intelligence operation.
IDF operations in Gaza — where officials say more than 40,000 people have been killed since Hamas’s terror attack on Israel sparked the war — continued at a steady pace during the ceasefire negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the war will not end until Israel achieves its stated goals of destroying Hamas and repatriating the remaining hostages. Israeli authorities still had 109 hostages in Gaza before Tuesday’s repatriation operations, including 34 whose remains had not yet been returned.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Israel Tuesday morning for Qatar and Egypt, which have helped the United States broker a long-awaited but so far elusive ceasefire deal to end fighting in Israel’s war with Hamas and secure the release of hostages. Talks appeared to be making progress Monday, Blinken said Netanyahu had supported a so-called “transition proposal” from the United States aimed at bridging the remaining gaps in demands between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken and President Biden have said it is up to Hamas to accept the proposal, but a Hamas official told CBS News immediately after Blinken’s announcement that the group “has not received any new proposals.” Both sides accuse each other of stalling a truce deal for months.
Blinken said Monday that Netanyahu had “confirmed to him that Israel accepts the rapprochement proposal, that they support it. Now it is up to Hamas to do the same.”
Speaking Tuesday morning, Mr Biden said Hamas was “walking away” from the deal, saying it was “still in play, but you can’t predict” the outcome of the talks.
“Israel says they can find a solution,” the president said in Chicago, but “Hamas is now backing down.”
Hamas hit back on Tuesday, accusing Mr. Biden and Blinken of issuing “misleading” statements that “do not reflect the true position of the movement.” [Hamas]who is keen to achieve a cessation of aggression.
The group, in a statement posted on social media, again accused Israel of changing the terms of a truce proposal presented in early July, which it said was “based on Biden’s own statements.” statement of May 31calling the US acceptance of the changes allegedly sought by Israel “consent to the new conditions of the terrorist Netanyahu and his criminal plans against the Gaza Strip.”
During his visit to Israel on Monday, Blinken said the talks were at “a defining moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to bring the hostages home, to get a cease-fire, and to put everyone on a better path toward lasting peace and security.”
Innocence Frames
