GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES  -   Fighting and bombardment shook Gaza’s biggest city on Thursday, an AFP correspondent said, even after Israel’s military declared an end to its operation in an eastern district that saw Gaza City’s heaviest combat in months. The upsurge in fighting, bombardment and displacement followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement in late June that “the war in its intense phase is about to end”. It also came as talks were held in the Gulf emirate of Qatar towards a truce and hostage release deal after more than nine months of war. Gaza’s Hamas rulers said troops had pulled back from Gaza City’s eastern district of Shujaiya, leaving “more than 300 residential units and more than 100 businesses destroyed”,

Witnesses said tanks and troops had moved into other Gaza City districts. An AFP correspondent reported air strikes on the Sabra neighbourhood while militants engaged in heavy clashes with Israeli forces in Tel al-Hawa. Explosions and orange flashes shook the darkened city before daylight brought automatic weapons fire, AFPTV images showed.

Hamas reported 45 air strikes in the Gaza City area, as well as in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Netanyahu had said the intense phase of the war was nearing its conclusion.

- ‘RED LINES’ -

Netanyahu’s office confirmed that its negotiating team, led by Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea, had returned to Israel following talks with mediators in Doha on Thursday. A new delegation will head to Cairo on Thursday evening “to continue the talks”, his office said. During the talks, “the chapters of the deal for the return of the hostages and the ways to implement the outline were discussed,” it said.

Separately, Hamas said it had not been informed “of any new developments” from the latest talks and accused Israel of “delaying tactics” aimed at “sabotaging” truce efforts. On Wednesday, the Washington Post had reported that both Israel and Hamas had “signalled their acceptance of an ‘interim governance’ plan” in which neither would rule the territory and a US-trained force of Palestinian Authority supporters would provide security. Netanyahu separately met US President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk. The Israeli prime minister “emphasised his commitment” to a proposed truce plan, “as long as Israel’s red lines are preserved”, his office said.