Israel vows to continue fighting in Gaza amid ceasefire talks

JERUSALEM/GAZA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel announced on Thursday its determination to continue its military operations in the Gaza Strip, effectively rejecting Hamas' statement that the release of hostages would only occur if Israel agrees to end the war.

Despite ongoing ceasefire talks, the deadly conflict between the two parties escalated on Thursday, with heavy explosions heard and huge black plumes in Gaza visible from the Israeli side of the fence during the day.

At night, huge orange flashes were seen in Gaza City as the Israeli army said it destroyed a key network of tunnels under the neighborhood of Rimal.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing that over the past day, Israeli forces "have operated from the air, sea, and land throughout the Gaza Strip."

He said that since the beginning of the war on Oct. 7, Israeli forces have killed more than 2,000 militants.

In the early afternoon, Hamas militants fired about 30 rockets at the Israeli city Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel, indicating the group's retained capability despite the 76-day Israeli relentless strikes.

A senior Israeli official told reporters in a briefing that Israeli negotiators have met with Qatari mediators, expressing their "willingness to reach a new deal."

Israel insists on continuing the previous ceasefire deal, focusing on the release of 17 women and children who were supposed to be freed during the truce in late November, according to the official.

In the meantime, an unnamed Palestinian source told Xinhua that Israel proposed the release of around 40 Israeli hostages through Qatari and Egyptian mediators in exchange for a one-week ceasefire.

Later, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that Israel is considering "improving" its offer to Hamas by extending the proposed ceasefire period to two weeks.

The spokesman of Hamas' military wing, Abu Ubaida, declared in a statement that the hostages held by the group would be released only if Israel "stops the aggression and the war."

This statement echoed an earlier announcement by Osama Hamdan, a Hamas politburo member, who asserted that "all parties" in the talks had been informed that there would be "no negotiation" for hostage release unless Israel ends its strikes in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected these statements, vowing that Israel "will not stop the war until we achieve all of its goals: Completing the elimination of Hamas and releasing all of our hostages."

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a humanitarian organization backed by the United Nations, issued a new report on Thursday, warning that Gaza's entire 2.3 million population is at risk of famine due to the shortage of food caused by the Israeli siege.

The risk of famine "is increasing each day that the current situation of intense hostilities and restricted humanitarian access persists or worsens," the report read.

The World Health Organization stated that there are no fully functioning hospitals left in Gaza. Due to Israeli strikes, 23 hospitals in Gaza are entirely non-functional, nine are partially functioning, and four are operating at minimum capacity, according to the WHO.

The Gaza-based Health Ministry has said that the Palestinian death toll from the relentless Israeli bombardments had reached 20,000, while the death toll in Israel has reached about 1,300, most of them killed in the initial Hamas attack on Oct. 7, according to official Israeli figures.