Israel seeks buffer zone as fighting intensifies in southern Gaza
CBC
Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the enclave after war ends, sources say.
Israel relayed its plans to its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, according to three regional sources, along with the United Arab Emirates — which normalized ties with Israel in 2020.
They also said that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which does not have ties with Israel, were told. The initiative does not indicate an imminent end to Israel's offensive — which resumed on Friday after a seven-day truce — but it shows Israel is reaching out beyond established Arab mediators, such as Egypt or Qatar, as it seeks to shape a post-war Gaza.
Israel pounded targets in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, intensifying a renewed offensive that followed a weeklong truce with Hamas, giving rise to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.
Nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed and 650 wounded since the fighting resumed Friday morning, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, even as the United States urged ally Israel to do everything possible to protect civilians.
"This is going to be very important going forward," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after meetings with Arab foreign ministers in Dubai, wrapping up his third Middle East tour since the war started. "It's something we're going to be looking at very closely."
Many of Israel's attacks Saturday were focused on the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, where the military said it had struck more than 50 Hamas targets with airstrikes, tank fire and its navy.
The military dropped leaflets the day before warning residents to leave, but as of late Friday, there had been no reports of large numbers of people leaving, according to the United Nations.
"There is no place to go," said Emad Hajar, who fled with his wife and three children from the northern town of Beit Lahia a month ago to seek refuge in Khan Younis.
"They expelled us from the north, and now they are pushing us to leave the south."
UNICEF spokesperson James Elder recorded a video describing the humanitarian crisis within Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
"This is the biggest still-functioning hospital in Gaza. It's at 200 per cent capacity," he said. "The health system here is overwhelmed. This hospital simply cannot take more children with the wounds of war."
Some two million people — almost Gaza's entire population — are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault.
Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre area. Israel has released a map outlining the most dangerous zones.
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