INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Israel targeted a Gaza school on Thursday that it said contained a Hamas compound, killing fighters involved in the Oct
7 attack that sparked the eight-month war, but Gaza media said the strike killed at least 27 people seeking shelter.Ismail Al-Thawabta, the
director of the Hamas-run government media office, rejected Israel&s claims that the U.N
school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.&The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false
fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,& Thawabta told Reuters.Israel&s military
said that before the strike by Israeli fighter jets, the military took steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.The attack happened
after Israel announced a new military campaign in central Gaza as it battles a group of fighters relying on hit-and-run insurgency tactics
Israel has said there will be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks.In an apparent blow to a truce proposal touted last week by U.S
President Joe Biden, the leader of Hamas on Wednesday said the group would demand a permanent end to the war in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal
as part of a ceasefire plan.The remarks by Ismail Haniyeh appeared to deliver the Palestinian militant group&s reply to the proposal that
Washington had said it was waiting to hear an answer from Hamas to what Biden described as an Israeli initiative.&The movement and factions
of the resistance will deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive ending of the aggression and the
complete withdrawal and prisoners swap,& Haniyeh said.Asked whether Haniyeh&s remarks amounted to the group&s reply to Biden, a senior Hamas
official replied to a text message from Reuters with a &thumbs up& emoji.Since a brief week-long truce in November, all attempts to arrange
a ceasefire have failed, with Hamas insisting on its demand for a permanent end to the conflict, while Israel says it is prepared to discuss
only temporary pauses until the militant group is defeated.Washington is still pressing hard to reach an agreement
CIA director William Burns met senior officials from mediators Qatar and Egypt on Wednesday in Doha to discuss the ceasefire proposal.Biden
has repeatedly declared that ceasefires were close over the past several months, only for no truce to materialise.Last week&s announcement
came with far greater fanfare from the White House, and at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under mounting domestic
political pressure to chart a path to end the eight-month-old war and negotiate the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.Hamas, which
rules Gaza, precipitated the war by attacking Israeli territory on Oct
7, killing around 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies
Around half of the hostages were freed in the war&s only truce so far, which lasted a week in November.Israel&s military assault on Gaza has
killed more than 36,000 people, according to health officials in the territory, who say thousands more dead are feared buried under the
rubble.Meanwhile, a conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah is threatening to escalate, with the U.S
State Department warning against a full-blown war.ISRAEL LUKEWARMAlthough Biden described the ceasefire proposal as an Israeli offer,
Israel&s government has been lukewarm in public
A top Netanyahu aide confirmed on Sunday that Israel had made the proposal even though it was ¬ a good deal&.Far-right members of
Netanyahu&s government have pledged to quit if he agrees to a peace deal that leaves Hamas in place, a move that could force a new election
and end the political career of Israel&s longest-serving leader.Centrist opponents who joined Netanyahu&s war cabinet in a show of unity at
the outset of the conflict have also threatened to quit, saying his government has no plan.Meanwhile, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said
there would be no let-up in Israel&s offensive while negotiations over the ceasefire proposal were under way.&Any negotiations with Hamas
would be conducted only under fire,& Gallant said in remarks carried by Israeli media after he flew aboard a warplane to inspect the Gaza
front.The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they had fought gun battles with Israeli forces on Wednesday in areas throughout the
enclave and fired anti-tank rockets and shells.Two children were among the dead laid out on Wednesday in the city&s Al Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital, one of the last hospitals functioning in Gaza
Mourners said the children had been killed along with their mother, who had been unable to leave when others in the neighbourhood did.&This
is not war, it is destruction that words are unable to express,& said their father Abu Mohammed Abu Saif.The post Israel says jets strike
school containing Hamas compound, Gaza media says 27 killed first appeared on Ariana News.
