Israeli military tanks push deep into Gaza as Biden calls for peace

Cairo 22nd Reuters

The Israeli military intensified its invasion of the south-central Gaza Strip while fighting with Hamas combatants, and the Palestinian Health Authority announced on the 22nd that at least 22 people had died throughout the same area due to attacks by the Israeli army.

According to the White House, the new escalation occurred a few hours after US President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on the urgency of concluding a deal for the cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages.

Months of cease-fire negotiations have been on the same issue, but Israel and Hamas are holding on to their respective demands.

In the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, 11 people were killed in an air strike on a private house, and another air strike killed 6 people, including a local journalist, in a private house at Al-Magazi camp in central Gaza. Also, in the south, another attack killed 5 people.

The Israeli military said that in the past 24 hours, they have stepped up operations in Dale Albala in central Gaza and Khan Younis in the south, dismantled dozens of military facilities, discovered rockets, and killed armed groups.

Also, the government of the same country announced that it had killed 50 armed groups in the Rafah district in the southernmost part of the country in the past day.

The telephone talks between Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu followed a whirlwind visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which ended Tuesday without finding a breakthrough in the 10-month war.

What Hamas is seeking is a deal that ends the war in Gaza and frees Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza in exchange for the freedom of many Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The Hamas side accuses Israel and the United States of failing to conclude a deal.

Prime Minister Netanyahu says that the war will end only after Hamas is defeated, and that a cease-fire that enables the exchange of hostages and prisoners is only a temporary pause while extremist groups continue to be a threat.