GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, July 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Around 60
bodies were found under the rubble of a Gaza City neighbourhood, officials in
the Hamas-run territory said Thursday, after Israel's military declared an
end to its operation there.

The upsurge in fighting, bombardment and displacement in the eastern district
of Shujaiya came as talks were held in mediator Qatar towards a truce and
hostage release deal.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that his administration was "making
progress" towards a ceasefire agreement as he called for an end to the
Israel-Hamas war.

His statement came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that
Israel retain control of key Gaza territory along the border with Egypt -- a
condition that conflicts with Hamas's position that Israel must withdraw from
all Gaza territory after a ceasefire.

Gaza's civil defence agency said around 60 bodies had been found under the
rubble in Shujaiya, after some of Gaza City's heaviest combat in months.

Hamas said Israel's operation there had left "more than 300 residential units
and more than 100 business destroyed".

Mohammed Nairi, a Shujaiya resident, said he and others returning to the
neighbourhood had seen "immense destruction that defies description. All the
houses were demolished."

Israel's military said on Wednesday it had completed its mission in Shujaiya
after two weeks, but bombardments and fighting continued to shake Gaza City.

Witnesses said tanks and troops had moved on to other parts of the city.

An AFP correspondent reported air strikes on the Sabra neighbourhood while
militants engaged in heavy clashes with Israeli forces in Tel al-Hawa.

Hamas reported 45 air strikes in the Gaza City area, as well as in Gaza's
southernmost city of Rafah, where Netanyahu had said the intense phase of the
war was nearing its conclusion.

- 'Difficult, complex issues' -

Netanyahu's office confirmed that its negotiating team, led by Mossad
intelligence chief David Barnea, had returned to Israel following talks with
mediators in Doha on Thursday.

Speaking after the team's return, Netanyahu said Israel needed control of the
Palestinian side of Gaza's border with Egypt to stop weapons reaching Hamas.

He added that Israel must also be allowed to keep on fighting until its war
aims of destroying Hamas and bringing home all hostages are achieved.

In Washington, Biden acknowledged "difficult, complex issues" remain between
Israel and Hamas, but that progress was being made in reaching a ceasefire
deal.

"There's a lot of things in retrospect I wish I had been able to convince the
Israelis to do, but the bottom line is we have a chance now. It's time to end
this war," he said after a NATO summit.

The Washington Post had reported on Wednesday that both Israel and Hamas had
"signalled their acceptance of an 'interim governance' plan" in which neither
would rule the territory and a US-trained force of Palestinian Authority
supporters would provide security.

The Pentagon has also announced it will soon permanently end its problem-
plagued effort to deliver aid to Gaza by sea from Cyprus using a temporary
pier that had been repeatedly damaged by weather conditions.

The UN's health agency meanwhile said that only five trucks carrying medical
supplies were allowed into Gaza last week.

"More than 34 of our trucks are waiting at the Al Arish crossing, and 850
pallets of medical supplies are awaiting collection. A further 40 trucks are
waiting at Ismailiya in Egypt," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
Friday on social media platform X.

Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in
the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based
on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42
the military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,345
people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza's
health ministry.

- 'Dangerous combat zone' -

The Israeli army dropped leaflets on Wednesday warning "everyone in Gaza
City" that it would "remain a dangerous combat zone".

The leaflets urged residents to flee, and set out designated escape routes
from the area where the UN humanitarian office said up to 350,000 people had
been sheltering.

The UN said the latest evacuations "will only fuel mass suffering for
Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced many times", and who
face "critical levels of need".

Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP that Israel was "hoping that the
resistance will relinquish its legitimate demands" in truce negotiations.

But "the continuation of massacres compels us to adhere to our demands", he
said.

Israel's military said operations were also continuing in the Rafah area
where "dozens" of militants were killed over the past day.

The military said it responded with air and ground strikes after five rockets
were fired from the area towards Israel on Thursday.

The military separately acknowledged Thursday it had "failed" to protect
Kibbutz Beeri, where more than 100 people died during Hamas's October 7
attacks.

A summary of the inquiry, made public after being presented to kibbutz
residents, said there had been a "lack of coordination" in the military
response.