Hopes for fresh truce as Israel keeps up attacks in Gaza
• Israeli forces pound YMCA facility housing displaced Palestinians, killing many
• Exchange of prisoners at centre of expected deal
• Two firms avoid Suez Canal amid Houthi attacks
CAIRO: The head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency met Qatar’s prime minister in Europe late on Friday as attention turned to a new Gaza truce and a deal on exchange of prisoners.
According to two Egyptian security sources, Israeli officials now appeared more willing to work towards a ceasefire and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israelis held by Hamas.
The meeting between David Barnea and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was apparently the first between senior officials from Israel and Qatar, which has been acting as a mediator, since the collapse of a seven-day ceasefire late last month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to confirm that negotiations were under way to recover prisoners held by Hamas, but tried to dash hopes for a truce by saying Israel had requests for a ceasefire and to remove troops from Gaza, but would not do so.
In a televised press conference, Mr Netanyahu said the territory would be demilitarised and placed under Israeli control.
In a sign of wider ramifications of the Gaza crisis, two major freight firms said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Combat has intensified in the past two weeks since the collapse of the truce that had allowed Israeli prisoners in Gaza to be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Israeli forces bombarded targets across Gaza on Saturday, including a crowded YMCA building, with a number of Palestinians reported killed or wounded, despite a renewed US call to scale down the bombing.
According to US officials, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had urged Israel during his visit this week to scale down its Gaza bombardment and transition to more “narrowly targeted operations” against Hamas leadership.
Washington appeared to acknowledge disagreement, as Mr Sullivan said the timing was under “intensive discussion” between the allies.
In Khan Yunis, in Gaza’s south, Palestinian health officials said the Nasser Hospital had received 20 Palestinians killed in air strikes on Friday night.
Palestinian officials also said Israeli strikes on Gaza City in the north had hit the YMCA headquarters, which is sheltering hundreds of displaced people and reported several dead and wounded.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said over 30 people had been killed in strikes on three houses in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Rescue workers believed some casualties remained buried under the rubble in some of those areas.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had bombed a building in Jabalia from the air after its forces came under fire and Hamas fighters were seen on the roof. It was unclear if the building was one of those that WAFA said had been hit.
Gaza residents reported intense fighting. “The Gaza Strip turned into a ball of fire overnight, we could hear explosions and gunshots echoing from all directions,” Ahmed, 45, an electrician who has taken shelter in central Gaza, said.
Mohammad, 40, a resident of Khan Yunis who has moved to the southern city of Rafah following Israeli evacuation orders, said: “We want a full ceasefire, an end to the war and not a humanitarian pause.”
Attacks on ships
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi movement has been attacking vessels on a route that allows East-West trade, especially oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa. War risk insurance premiums have risen as a result.
The rise in premiums translates into tens of thousands of dollars of extra costs for a seven-day voyage.
Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk paused all its container shipments through Bab Al Mandab on Friday until further notice, and it was joined on Saturday by the Swiss-based MSC and the French shipping group CMA CGM.
“The situation is further deteriorating and concern for safety is increasing,” CMA CGM said in a statement.
The German container line Hapag Lloyd had said it might do the same.
Mediterranean Shipping Co, the world’s largest container shipping firm, said a Liberian-flagged vessel, MSC Palatium III, was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab Al Mandab Strait off Yemen, at the southern end of the Red Sea.
No injuries were reported, but the ship suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said in a statement.
The company said it would reroute some services around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa’s southern tip, adding days to the sailing times of vessels booked to transit the Suez Canal.
Another Liberian-flagged vessel, Hapag Lloyd’s Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, the US military said.
The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive, but said on Friday they were targeting only ships heading for Israel.
Bab Al Mandab is one of the world’s most important routes for global seaborne commodity shipments, particularly crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound westward for the Mediterranean via Suez Canal or the nearby SUMED pipeline, as well as commodities heading eastward for Asia, including Russian oil.
The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on shipping and fired drones and missiles towards Israel _ on Saturday hitting the Red Sea resort city of Eilat — in support of Hamas.
The US Central Command said a guided-missile destroyer had shot down 14 drones launched by Houthis in the Red Sea on Saturday morning.
In a statement, it said they were assessed to be one-way attack drones and had been shot down with no damage to ships.
Britain also said one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping.
Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2023
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