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BUREIJ, Palestinian Territories — Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal.

Tensions were high in occupied East Jerusalem where thousands of occupation forces were deployed to guard Israel's annual "flag March" that has sparked clashes between Jews and Arabs in previous years.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war raged on unabated with jets bombing targets overnight and Palestinian officials reporting yet more deaths.

Urban combat and shelling rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, the last city hit by the Israeli ground invasion launched in northern Gaza in late October.

But fighting has also flared again in central areas, where the army said "troops have started targeted operational activity in the areas of Bureij and eastern Deir Al Balah, both above and below ground".

“The activity started with a series of air strikes on terror targets, including military compounds, weapons storage facilities and underground infrastructure,” it said.

“During the strikes, several Hamas terrorists were eliminated.”

Bombardment of central Gaza killed 11 people near the Al-Maghazi camp and two near Deir Al Balah, said witnesses and Palestinian civil defence and hospital officials.

Families have rushed the dead and wounded to hospitals in the area, where AFP reporters said civilians were once more packing their belongings on pickup trucks and wheelchairs to flee.

Almost eight months into the war, global outrage has spiralled over the soaring death toll and the destruction in Gaza, where UN data suggests more than half of all buildings are destroyed or damaged.

US President Joe Biden last Friday outlined what he called a three-phase Israeli plan that would halt the fighting for six weeks while hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and aid is stepped up.

G7 powers and Arab states have backed the proposal, although sticking points remain — Hamas insists on a permanent truce and full Israeli withdrawal, demands Israel has flatly rejected.

Biden has urged Hamas to accept the deal and deployed CIA chief Bill Burns to Qatar for a renewed push after months of back-and-forth negotiations.

A source with knowledge of the talks said Burns would “continue working with mediators on reaching an agreement between Hamas and Israel on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages”.

Brett McGurk, Biden’s top Middle East adviser, was also headed to Qatar, according to news site Axios which quoted sources as talking of a “full-court press... to get a breakthrough”.

Egypt’s state-linked Al Qahera News said an “Egyptian security delegation will meet with its Qatari and US counterparts in Doha on Wednesday to discuss the mechanism of restoring the truce talks”.

Qatar said on Tuesday it had yet to see statements from either side “that give us a lot of confidence”, but that Doha was “working with both sides on proposals on the table”.

Biden earlier told Qatar’s emir that “Hamas is now the only obstacle to a complete ceasefire”, and “confirmed Israel’s readiness to move forward” with the terms he set out last week.

A senior Hamas official in Beirut on Tuesday accused Israel of seeking “endless” truce negotiations, and repeated the group’s position rejecting any deal that excludes a permanent ceasefire.

Flashpoint Jerusalem march

Israeli police deployed 3,000 officers in Jerusalem ahead of the annual march by right-wingers commemorating Israel’s capture of the Old City in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The annual march draws Israeli religious ultranationalists and Zionist youth groups and leads through the city’s Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall.

It has been a lightning rod for Israeli-Palestinian tensions in recent years.

On the day the march was held in 2021, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets towards Jerusalem, setting off a 12-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 36,550 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Israel has faced growing diplomatic isolation, cases against it before two international courts, and several European governments recognising a Palestinian state.

Tensions have also risen between Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the United States remains Israel’s top ally, political backer and weapons supplier.

Biden took a swipe in an interview with Time magazine at Netanyahu, who is leading a shaky right-wing coalition government and has been fighting corruption claims in court.

Asked if he believed the Israeli premier was dragging out the war for political self-preservation, Biden said: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

DOHA — Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it was waiting for a "clear position" from Israel on a proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

"We have yet to see a very clear position from the Israeli government towards the principles laid out by President Biden," Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said, adding there was no "concrete approval" from either side.

"We have read and seen the contradictory statements coming in from Israeli ministers, which doesn't give us much confidence of there being a unified position in Israel over this current proposal on the table," he said.

The Palestinian movement Hamas had also yet to give a firm response, the official added.

"We haven't seen any statements on both sides that give us a lot of confidence," he added, noting however that the process was ongoing and that "we have been working with both sides on proposals on the table".

The official later said Doha had received an "Israeli proposal which reflects the positions stated by President Biden" and is "much closer" to meeting conditions of both Israel and Hamas.

"We have delivered the proposal to the Hamas side," Ansari said, adding that Qatar is making its "best efforts to finalise an agreement".

Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations over details for a ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners.

But with the exception of a seven-day break in fighting from November that led to the release of more than 100 hostages, the mediation efforts have not stopped the fighting.

In an effort to reinvigorate talks, Biden said on Friday that Israel was offering a new three-stage roadmap.

According to the US president, Israel’s offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see its forces withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange.

The parties would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing.

In its final phase, the plan would lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power, Biden said.

Ansari said “there is momentum internationally, driven by the US... but we need to be very cautious”.

“We are using our leverage as a mediator... to make sure that both sides understand the gravity of the situation and the need to reach an agreement.”

The US president and Qatar’s ruler spoke on Monday when, according to the White House, Biden told the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, that Hamas was the only obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire deal and urged him to press the group to accept it.

Negotiations ground to a halt in early May as Israel began ground operations in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Previous frameworks presented by mediators have run aground over Hamas demand that any truce lead to a permanent ceasefire, while Israel has said it must be allowed to pursue its war aim of destroying the Palestinian militant group.

Meanwhile, two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition said on Tuesday that they support the Gaza ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden.

But on Tuesday, the largest partner in the alliance, Shas, said it backed the proposal which would facilitate the return of hostages still held in Gaza since October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel.

“Shas supports the proposal and encourages the prime minister and the war Cabinet to resist all pressures, conclude this agreement and save the lives of many of our brothers and sisters,” said the party that has 11 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Yitzhak Goldknopf, leader of the other ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, which has seven seats, said on X that he had told the hostage families “that we will support any proposal that leads to the release of the hostages”.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities have made several arrests over recent attacks on US-linked outlets, including among security force personnel, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Dozens of men attacked two restaurants in Baghdad on Monday including a KFC, security officials said, as calls grow to boycott US brands over Israel's war in Gaza.

They were the latest in a spate of attacks targeting Western-linked brands in Iraq that started last week and have so far caused damage but no casualties.

The attacks intended to "harm American interests", the ministry said, adding that several suspects had been arrested over last week's attacks.

"Unfortunately, it appeared that some of them belong to one of the security apparatuses and had carried out these actions to harm American interests," the ministry said.

A security source said 13 suspects were arrested on Monday, without providing details. Another security official said several people were detained but later released.

Monday's attack came shortly after the powerful pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hizbollah called on its supporters to "boycott and expel" what they denounced as "spy" entities affiliated with the "occupation".

The group, which Washington considers a "terrorist" organisation, has repeatedly called for US troops to leave Iraq.

Kataeb Hizbollah is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of pro-Iran groups that had claimed attacks on US troops over the Gaza war before suspending them in late January.

It is also part of the Hashed Al Shaabi, a coalition of paramilitaries now integrated into Iraq's regular security forces.

Since the war in Gaza started in October, a boycott movement spearheaded by pro-Palestinian activists has targeted major Western brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s.

Iraq does not recognise the state of Israel, and all of its political parties support the Palestinian cause.

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel — Israeli authorities were on alert for new brush fires on Tuesday, after munitions fired from Lebanon by Hizbollah the previous evening ignited several across northern Israel.

The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said that dozens of firefighting teams worked through the night along with teams from the Nature and Park Service, army, police and other agencies before gaining control over the largest fires in the morning, an AFP journalist reported.

"As of this time there are three active sites" near the border with Lebanon, the fire service posted on X Tuesday. An AFP journalist said firefighters were still handling smaller fires.

The blazes encroached on Kiryat Shmona, a town near the Lebanese border that has been largely evacuated in the face of near-daily exchanges of fire between the army and Hizbollah since Hamas's October 7 surprise attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

Extreme heat that has gripped the region in recent days has raised the risk of brush fires. The daily barrages of rockets and drone strikes have rained down incendiary material.

An AFP photographer in the northern town saw intense blazes engulfing parts of the border area.

On Sunday, a brush fire in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights burned around 10 square kilometres of land after a rocket fired from Lebanon struck near the town of Katzrin.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency also reported fires in Alma Al Shaab and Dhayra, two villages near the Israeli border. It said the fires were caused by "Israeli phosphorus incendiary shells".

The Israeli forces said it had deployed reinforcements to support firefighters overwhelmed by the scale of the blazes.

“Six... reservist soldiers were lightly injured as a result of smoke inhalation and transferred to a hospital to receive medical treatment,” the army said.

“The forces gained control over the locations of fire, and at this stage, no human life is at risk,” it added.

In retaliation, the Israeli army announced it had carried out air strikes against what it said were Hizbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

NNA reported that Israeli incendiary shells had sparked a forest fire that was approaching houses in the southern village of Alma Al-Shaab on Tuesday.

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Israel announced on Monday the deaths of four captives held in Gaza amid growing doubts and international pressure over a plan for a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

Biden on Friday presented what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the bloody conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stressed that the war sparked by the October 7 surprise attack would continue until all of Israel's "goals are achieved", including the destruction of Hamas's military and governing capabilities.

And on Monday, the White House said Biden told the emir of mediator Qatar that he saw Hamas as "the only obstacle to a complete ceasefire" in Gaza, and urged him to press the group to accept it.

The G7 group of developed countries said in a statement its leaders "fully endorse" the deal pushed by Biden, and called on Hamas to accept it.

Israel's military announced the deaths in Gaza of four hostages seized on October 7, naming them as Chaim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell.

All but Popplewell were seen alive in a video released by Hamas in December.

Separately, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said: "We assess that the four of them were killed while together in the area of Khan Yunis during our operation there against Hamas."

Earlier on Monday the army said it had located in Israel the body of paramedic Dolev Yehud, who had been thought to be a hostage but was killed on October 7.

Israeli media have questioned to what extent Biden’s ceasefire speech and some crucial details were coordinated with Netanyahu’s team, including how long any truce would hold and how many captives would be freed and when.

Hamas on Friday said it viewed Biden’s outline “positively”, but has since made no official comment on the stalled negotiations, while mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States have not announced any new talks.

‘End to suffering’

Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt issued a statement Monday backing the latest diplomatic effort.

They “emphasised the importance of dealing seriously and positively with the US president’s proposal” which could produce “a permanent ceasefire... and an end to the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip”, the joint statement said.

Israeli government spokesman David Mencer quoted Netanyahu as saying that the outline Biden presented was only “partial”, and that under the plan fighting would only stop temporarily “for the purpose of returning the hostages”.

However, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday the White House has “seen again over the weekend from Israel a willingness to step forward and do a deal”.

And State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the proposal was “nearly identical” to one submitted several weeks ago by Hamas and called on its leader, Yahya Sinwar, not to “move the goalposts”.

The fighting showed no sign of easing, with the war that has devastated the coastal territory of 2.4 million people soon to enter its ninth month.

On Monday Israel’s military said its forces had struck “over 50 targets” over the past day, and Gaza hospitals reported at least 19 fatalities in overnight strikes.

Heavy fighting

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 sudden attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 120 of whom remain in Gaza, including 41 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 36,479 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Some 55 per cent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or “possibly damaged” since the war erupted, according to the United Nations satellite analysis agency.

Heavy fighting has raged especially in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where UN agencies say most civilians have now been displaced once more.

Israel’s military said troops were carrying out “targeted operations in the Rafah area”, and witnesses reported air strikes and shelling.

Gaza’s European hospital said 10 people were killed in an air strike on a house near the main southern city of Khan Yunis, and Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital reported six dead in a strike on a home in the central Bureij refugee camp.

UN and other aid agencies have warned for months of the looming risk of famine in the besieged territory amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Political pressure

Netanyahu, a hawkish veteran leading a fragile hard-right coalition government, is under intense domestic pressure from multiple sides.

Relatives and supporters of hostages have staged mass protests demanding a truce deal — but his far-right coalition allies are threatening to bring down the government if he agrees to that.

In a video message Monday, Netanyahu insisted Israel would achieve “both tasks” in its war: “the elimination of Hamas” and the return of the captives.

According to Biden, Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange.

Both sides would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing, Biden said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian government, based in the occupied West Bank, is seeking to join South Africa’s suit before the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza, court documents showed.

The Hague-based ICJ ordered Israel in January to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza, and last month demanded an immediate halt to the Rafah offensive.

BEIRUT — At least 12 militants fighters were killed in an overnight Israeli strike that targeted a factory near Aleppo in the north of Syria, an NGO reported early Monday.

"Twelve pro-Iranian fighters of Syrian and foreign nationalities were killed, according to an initial tally, in an Israeli air strike on a position in the town of Hayyan, north of Aleppo, setting off strong explosions in a factory," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian Ministry of Defence said in a statement that "after midnight... the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the southeast of Aleppo, targeting some positions" near the city, adding that "the aggression caused several martyrs and material damage".

According to the observatory — which is based in Britain, but maintains a vast network of sources inside Syria — rescuers and firefighters were deployed to the site to treat the injured and contain blazes caused by the strike.

The NGO said that Hayyan is "controlled by pro-Iranian groups composed of Syrians and foreigners".

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbour since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from the militant group Hizbollah.

While it rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.

The strikes have increased since its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Palestinian resistance group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.