JERUSALEM, (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has threatened to annex parts of the Gaza Strip unless Hamas militants release the remaining Israeli hostages held in the war-battered Palestinian territory.
The warning came as Israel pressed the renewed assault it launched on Tuesday, shattering the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire.
A Palestinian source close to the ceasefire talks told AFP that Hamas had received a proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar for re-establishing a truce and exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners "according to a timeline to be agreed upon". The source said the proposal "includes the entry of humanitarian aid" into Gaza, which has been blocked by Israel since March 2.
Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, citing deadlock in indirect negotiations on next steps in the truce after its first stage expired this month.
The territory's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed 11 people on Friday. On Thursday, it had reported a death toll of 504 since the bombardment resumed, one of the highest since the onslaught began.
Katz said: "I ordered (the army) to seize more territory in Gaza... The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel". Should Hamas not comply, Katz also threatened "to expand buffer zones around Gaza to protect Israeli civilian population areas and soldiers by implementing a permanent Israeli occupation of the area".
Hamas on Saturday accused the US of distorting the truth by saying the Palestinian militant group had chosen war with Israel by refusing to release hostages.
"The claim that 'Hamas chose war instead of releasing the hostages' is a distortion of the facts," Hamas said in a statement in response to the accusation from US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes.
Israel's resumption of large-scale military operations, coordinated with US President Donald Trump's administration, drew widespread condemnation.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain called for an immediate return to a Gaza ceasefire in a joint statement, calling the new strikes "a dramatic step backward".
Thousands of protesters have rallied in Jerusalem in recent days, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of resuming military operations without regard for the safety of the hostages.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement called on its Islamist rivals Hamas on Saturday to relinquish power in order to safeguard the "existence" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Government today tabled in the House the Report of the Commission to Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe said today he wholly rejects the Batalanda Commission report and that it was appointed wholly with the intention slinging political mud at him.
Leader of the National People’s Party (NPP) and one time Propaganda Secretary of the JVP Wimal Weerawansa accused the Government of bringing back the “Batalanda Commission” for a media spectacle instead of a genuine concern for those who suffered during the 1988-1990 period.
Speaker (Dr.) Jagath Wickramaratne to announced to the Parliament regarding the vacant seat created in Parliament due to the resignation of Mohamed Sali Naleem from his position as a Member of Parliament.
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