Israeli Attacks in Gaza and the West Bank Kill Several Palestinians Including 9 Militants

Two Israeli airstrikes near Tulkarm resulted in the deaths of 9 Palestinian militants affiliated with the extremist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and just hours later, another attack in Gaza left 15 dead. Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, confirmed that all 9 Palestinians killed in the Tulkarm attacks were Palestinian fighters, and Islamic Jihad confirmed the membership of four of them in their militant organization. According to the Israeli army, the first of the two airstrikes on Saturday, August 13, targeted a vehicle carrying 'a militant cell' in a town near Tulkarm, which was reportedly on its way to carry out an attack. Tulkarm is the provincial center of the same name in the northwest of the West Bank and is close to the coastal city of Netanya in Israel. Hamas stated that one of the deceased was a commander of the Tulkarm brigades, and its ally, Islamic Jihad, confirmed that four others killed in this attack were members of their forces. However, according to the Israeli army, hours later, a second airstrike in the area targeted another group of militants who had fired at Israeli soldiers during what was described as an 'anti-terror operation' in Tulkarm. This attack reportedly left four dead, and Hamas confirmed that the casualties were also militants. Just hours later, the official media office of Hamas reported that at least 15 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering refugees in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. The Israeli army claims that this school is used as a Hamas command center and for hiding militants and weapon manufacturing, but Hamas has denied Israel's accusations of using civilian facilities like schools and hospitals. Earlier on Saturday, health officials in Gaza reported the deaths of six people in the southern Rafah area and two others in Gaza City due to Israeli attacks. The Israeli army stated that the aim of these attacks was to confront militants and destroy the infrastructure used by Hamas in Rafah and other areas of the Gaza Strip. According to Gaza health officials, at least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military operations in Gaza. This attack was a response to Hamas's assault on southern Israel in mid-October of last year, which, according to Israel, left 1,200 dead, most of whom were civilians. Hamas took 250 people hostage in this assault, of whom about 115 are still being held in Gaza, and negotiations for their release in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza are ongoing. Reuters reports that with rising regional tensions following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Tehran, the likelihood of success in these negotiations is low. In this context, Axios reported on Saturday evening, citing two Israeli officials, that negotiations over the exchange of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza have reached an impasse after discussions between a senior Israeli delegation and Egyptian officials on Saturday in Cairo, and a potential agreement is far from reach in light of new demands from the Israeli Prime Minister. As Reuters notes, Haniyeh's assassination, while the Gaza war approaches its eleventh month, has raised concerns that the conflict in Gaza is becoming a broader war in the Middle East. Both Hamas and Iran have accused Israel of carrying out Haniyeh's assassination and have vowed to retaliate, but Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the killing. According to the US State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately on Saturday with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné and British Foreign Minister David Lammy about the need to achieve a ceasefire and an agreement for the release of hostages in Gaza and to prevent the escalation of the conflict. The Egyptian government also announced that its foreign minister emphasized in a phone call with the Iranian foreign minister that recent developments in the region are 'unprecedented, very dangerous,' and threaten stability. At the same time, the Italian Foreign Ministry announced that Italy has sent a message through its embassy in Tehran, urging Iran to exercise restraint and help reduce tensions in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions.