While the head of Hamas is in Cairo for talks, the Israeli army has provided an update on its attacks on Gaza, saying it struck 300 targets in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The IDF said it was “continuing to target terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the Gaza Strip”.
It said its troops were conducting “close-quarters combat with Hamas on the ground and directing aircraft to strike Hamas cells and weapons”.
“More than 300 terror targets were struck over the last day,” the statement said.
The IDF also said its troops were fired at in southern Gaza, and in response, it carried out a targeted raid on a military command centre in Khan Younis, where it found rifles, ammunition and explosives.
It said its fighter jets struck a launch post that had fired rockets “toward Israeli civilians yesterday”.
Meanwhile, The Middle East director at NGO International Communities Organisation says if Israel wants all hostages held by Hamas freed, any deal will most likely have to involve the return of all Palestinian prisoners.
Gershon Baskin negotiated the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in 2011.
He tells the BBC News channel that a UN vote on a ceasefire resolution – which was delayed on Tuesday – would not “have much impact” on the ground.
He says this is because Israel will continue bombing Gaza until “its war goals are met”, which he defines as “dismantling Hamas’s ability to rule the Gaza Strip”.
He believes Israel’s openness to a ceasefire is due to “local pressure” from the families of hostages.
During a six-day ceasefire at the end of November, 105 hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
