• Israeli forces intensify restrictions at two checkpoints
• Biden’s aide says both sides are ‘very, very close to deal’

GAZA STRIP: The civil defence service of Gaza said Israel had killed 70 children across the enclave over five days, adding that they were killed in attacks on several areas in the territory, Al Jazeera reports.

Palestinian children in Gaza continue to bear a heavy toll from Israel’s aggression, now in its 16th month.

The Israeli military’s operation that has been ongoing for 100 days in northern Gaza has resulted in 5,000 Palestinians being killed or missing, a medical source has told Al Jazeera.

They added that another 9,500 people were injured in the operation.

Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 46,565 Palestinians and injured 109,660 since Oct 7, 2023, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said, Reuters reports.

The ministry said 28 Palestinians were killed during the past 24 hours alone.

Israeli occupation forces intensified their restrictions on Sunday at the Tayasir and Hamra military checkpoints in the northern Jordan Valley, leading to severe traffic congestion and hindering the movement of Palestinian citizens, Wafa reports.

Local sources reported that increased restrictions at both checkpoints since the early morning hours caused long traffic delays, obstructing the daily movement of residents.

The Israeli military has been tightening restrictions at these checkpoints for over a year, with frequent closures, but the measures have significantly escalated over the past week.

Earlier on Saturday night, three Palestinians, including a paramedic, were killed as Israeli occupation forces continued their bombardment of various areas in the Gaza Strip, according to local sources, Wafa reports.

Two of the victims, along with several injured individuals, were transferred to Al-Awda Hospital following an artillery strike by Israeli forces targeting residential homes in the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza.

Meantime, Israeli military vehicles continued to fire heavily towards the northwestern regions of Gaza City, further escalating the attacks.

In a related incident, paramedic Hasan Al-Kahlout, from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, succumbed to his injuries after being wounded in an earlier Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza region.

Netanyahu updates Biden on progress

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later spoke with outgoing US President Joe Biden, updating him on progress in negotiations to reach a deal for Israeli prisoners’ release.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said, “The prime minister discussed with the American president the progress in the negotiations” for the release of Israeli prisoners and updated the latter on the mandate he had given to the negotiating team in Doha.

Israel’s refusal to end war

Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quoting an unnamed source, says one of the main disputes in the negotiations in Doha is Israel’s refusal to commit to ending its military operations in Gaza after the deal’s second phase, Al Jazeera reports.

The source is reported to have said there would be an attempt to present a promise from the US to pressure Israel to end the fighting, even if Israel did not explicitly agree to it.

The paper said Israel is expected to present a plan to mediators for a military reorganization across the Palestinian enclave. This would include the Philadelphi Corridor, the 14km-long strip of land spanning the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Earlier, Jake Sullivan told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ programme that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining 98 prisoners held there, but still had to get it across the finish line.

Biden was getting daily updates on the talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, Sullivan said.

“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,” he said, adding that Biden “is likely, in the near term, to engage with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside”.

He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office, but that it was also possible “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent”.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2025