(Reuters)
CAIRO/GAZA, July 12 – Israeli forces pulled back from parts of Gaza City overnight, after a fierce, week-long offensive that met with Hamas resistance, leaving dozens of dead and wrecked homes and roads in the Palestinian enclave’s biggest urban area, rescuers said.
The offensive, 10 months into Israel’s campaign to eliminate Hamas militants, took place as U.S.-backed mediators sought to finalise a peace deal that would free remaining hostages taken by the militants in their cross-border rampage on Oct. 7.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said teams had collected around 60 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past week from the area of Tel Al-Hawa and the edges of the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.
While tanks withdrew from some areas, Israeli snipers and tanks continued to control some high ground, residents and rescue teams said, warning residents against trying to return.
“There are bodies scattered in the streets, dismembered bodies, there are bodies of entire families, there are also bodies inside a home of an entire family that was completely burned,” Gaza Strip Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said on Friday in comments carried by media in Hamas-run Gaza.
Israel’s military said it had found drones and other weaponry in what is called a Hamas combat complex inside the former UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City and had evacuated civilians from the area before attacking.
“The troops engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorist cells that had fortified themselves inside the UNRWA compound,” it said, adding that it had also found an important Hamas tunnel nearby and weapons production under a university building.
