GAZA: Palestinian Hamas fired two rockets at Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv on Tuesday for the first time in months and Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators aimed to resume ceasefire talks later in the week.
There were no reports of casualties in Israel. Two rockets had been fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said, one of which fell in the sea and the other had not reached Israeli territory.
Hamas' military wing said in a statement: "We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two 'M90' missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people."
Israeli air strikes killed 19 Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medics said. Hamas last claimed firing rockets at Tel Aviv in May.
One strike killed six people in Deir Al Balah, including a mother and her twin four-day-old babies, while seven other Palestinians were killed in a strike on a house in the nearby Al Bureij camp.
Four people were killed in two separate strikes on the Al Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip and Rafah in the south, and two were killed in a strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, medics said.
The Israeli military said it had killed Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military structures in Khan Yunis, located weapons and explosives in Rafah, and struck rocket launchers and sniper posts in central Gaza.
The US said on Monday that it expected Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday to go ahead as planned, and that an agreement was still possible. Axios reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to set off on Tuesday for discussions in Qatar, Egypt and Israel.
But Hamas is demanding a workable plan to implement the proposal, presented by US President Joe Biden in May - rather than more talks.
A Hamas official said that a CNN report saying the group planned to attend on Thursday was wrong. "Our statement the other day was clear: what is needed is the implementation, not more negotiation," said the official.
Almost 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most the population displaced.
A ceasefire deal would aim to end fighting in Gaza and ensure the release of Israeli captives held in the enclave in return for Palestinians jailed in Israel. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
