South, Central Gaza: Israel steps up air raids past yellow line

Israeli forces launched airstrikes in southern and central Gaza, hitting areas beyond the yellow line despite ceasefire terms.

Some of the strikes yesterday morning targeted buildings in central Gaza's Bureij camp and eastern Khan Younis.

They add to hundreds of attacks that Gaza's civil defence said were brazen violations of the fragile seven-week ceasefire.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also carried out another wave of raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank, including in the areas of Qalqilya, Tubas, Hebron, Tulkarem and Nablus.

During their raid in Tubas, Israeli forces conducted field interrogations and assaulted at least 25 people who required medical treatment, according to a local Palestinian Red Crescent official quoted by the Wafa news agency.

Hamas called on mediating countries Wednesday to pressure Israel to allow safe passage for dozens of its fighters holed up in tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip, reports AFP.

The request came after the Israeli military said it killed over 20 Hamas members over the past week "who attempted to flee from the underground terror infrastructure in the area", and apprehended eight more.

"We hold (Israel) fully responsible for the lives of our fighters and call upon our mediators to take immediate action to pressure (Israel) to allow our sons to return home," Hamas said in a statement.

Meanwhile, discussions are under way on how to transition to the second phase of Gaza ceasefire, which is to include deploying an armed international stabilisation force, tasked with demilitarising Gaza, and developing an international body to temporarily govern the Gaza Strip and oversee reconstruction, reports Al Jazeera online.

The first stage of the Gaza truce completed on Wednesday after Israel transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners to Gaza authorities, a day after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad handed over the body of another Israeli captive.

Palestinian armed groups have now released all living captives and returned the remains of 26 of 28 captives stipulated to be transferred under the deal.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the latest handover shows the group's "steadfast commitment to fully complete the exchange process and its ongoing efforts to finalise it despite significant difficulties".