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RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Qatar said Wednesday it was appalled by the leak of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks criticizing the country’s mediation efforts with Hamas, complicating already arduous negotiations to end hostilities in exchange for the release of hostages. .
In a meeting with families of hostages held by Hamas, Netanyahu said Qatar’s role in the mediation was “problematic.” Qatar, a key mediator that also has deep ties to the militant group and hosts some of its exiled leaders, said Netanyahu’s remarks were “irresponsible and destructive.”
The public spat came as sensitive talks were underway in a bid to strike a possible deal that could offer a respite from the devastating three-month-old war. The fighting has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, it displaced about 85% of the territory’s 2. 3 million citizens and triggered a humanitarian disaster that has spread hunger, malnutrition and disease in the besieged coastal enclave.
As international relations continued, heavy fighting was still raging, particularly in southern Gaza, where the United Nations said an Israeli tank attack on a U. N. facility killed at least nine other people and wounded dozens.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until a “complete victory” against Hamas, which started the war with its Oct. 7 attack across the border, killing about 1,200 more people in Israel and another 250 others.
Israel says it is fighting in self-defense but faces genocide charges at the United Nations global tribunal in The Hague, which said it would rule on Friday on Africa’s request for an interim order from the South urging Israel to prevent the conflict. hostilities.
A ‘PROBLEMATIC’ MEDIATOR
Qatar has been key in the negotiation efforts between Israel and Hamas.
In Netanyahu’s leaked remarks, broadcast Tuesday by Israel’s Channel 12 television, he also told the families that he deliberately thanked Qatar for its mediation efforts, saying it could put more pressure on the Islamist militant group.
“In my opinion, Qatar is no different, in essence, from the UN. It’s no different, in essence, from the Red Cross and, in some respects, it’s even more problematic,” he said. Israel looks with suspicion at these organizations, considering them biased and not useful enough to guarantee the freedom of the hostages.
Netanyahu said in the leaked audio that he had expressed anger at the United States for renovating a military base in the Gulf state. He said he had asked the Americans to put pressure on Qatar to put pressure on Hamas.
Qatar helped secure a weeklong truce in November in which over 100 hostages were released. It also is involved in efforts to broker a new deal to bring home the roughly 130 hostages that remain in captivity.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said his government was “appalled” by the reported remarks by Netanyahu but that they were “not surprising.”
“If the reported statements turn out to be true, the Israeli prime minister would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that seem to serve his political career of prioritizing saving innocent lives by adding Israeli hostages,” al-Ansari said.
Qatar and Egypt are seeking a new agreement that could allow the release of more hostages. White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in Doha on Wednesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. The stopover comes a day after McGurk met with Egyptian officials hoping to build a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.
But officials say the gap between the two sides is still wide, and the spat between Netanyahu and Qatar could rattle the negotiations.
HEAVY FIGHTING IN SOUTHERN GAZA
Since the end of the last truce at the end of November, fighting has intensified. The second largest city of Khan Younis is the last focus of the war. The U. N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said at least nine other people were killed when tank shells hit a U. N. education center where 800 other people were sheltering, according to the company’s director in Gaza, Thomas White.
The death toll is likely to rise, the company’s director, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in X. He said the complex was obviously marked and that its tactile data was shared with Israeli authorities.
“Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war,” he wrote. The agency said the same site was also hit earlier in the week, killing six.
The military said it had “currently ruled out” that its aircraft or artillery had carried out the most recent attack, but that it was still investigating. Israel has accused Hamas of fighting near U. N. shelters and endangering civilians by targeting its fighters and militant infrastructure in dense residential areas. Areas.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israel battled Palestinian militants outside the city’s main Nasser hospital, where medics said 850 patients and thousands of displaced people were trapped during the fighting because surrounding roads were inaccessible or too dangerous.
Thousands of people fled south from Khan Younis to the city of Rafah on Tuesday. The UN says around 1. 5 million more people – about two-thirds of Gaza’s population – are crammed into shelters and tent camps in and around Rafah, on the border with Egypt. .
Even there, Palestinians have found little security, and Israel is wearing down its movements in and around the city. At least five other people were killed in an attack on a mosque in Rafah on Wednesday, according to Associated Press reporters who saw the bodies up close. per hospital.
At least 210 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in the war to 25,700, according to the Health Ministry. The agency’s tally differentiates between civilians and combatants, but indicates that most of the dead are women and children.
A TEMPORARY BUFFER ZONE
Hamas continues to attack Israeli forces, including in some of the most devastated areas, and to fire rockets into Israel. An attack Monday near the border killed 21 Israeli infantrymen as they prepared explosives for a controlled demolition. This is the largest loss of the Vive army in a single attack since October 7.
Israeli media said troops were racing to create an informal buffer zone about a kilometer wide along the border to prevent militants from attacking Israeli communities near Gaza. Two television channels broadcast footage showing what appears to be a controlled demolition of several structures near Gaza. Frontera, which according to the channels took a position in the domain of the attack.
An Israeli government official said the country is contemplating the concept of a transitional buffer zone.
“In the context of the demilitarization of Gaza, it is possible that a transitional security zone will be established,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision.
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Jeffery brought from Cairo and Goldenberg from Jerusalem. Associated Press Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem.
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See more AP on https://apnews. com/hub/israel-hamas-war