GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, June 30, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Heavy battles
and bombardment hit Gaza City's Shujaiya district for a fourth day on Sunday,
months after the Israeli army declared Hamas's command structure dismantled
in the northern area.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the devastated neighbourhood,
where the army said it has fought Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants both
"above and below ground" in tunnels.

The military said troops had "eliminated several terrorists, located weapons
and conducted targeted raids on booby-trapped combat compounds" over the past
24 hours while the air force had "struck dozens" of the militants'
infrastructure sites.

It also reported clashes in central Gaza and the southern Rafah area, a week
after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the "intense phase" of
the war raging since October 7 was nearing an end.

The United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that "60,000 to 80,000
people were displaced" from Shujaiya since new fighting broke out there on
Thursday and the army issued evacuation orders.

Months of on-and-off talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal have
meanwhile made little progress, with Hamas saying Saturday there was "nothing
new" in a revised plan presented by US mediators.

United States President Joe Biden late last month outlined what he called an
Israeli plan for a six-week truce and exchange of some hostages for
Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Washington last week presented "new language" for parts of the proposed deal,
according to US news site Axios.

A Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, confirmed that the Islamist
movement had received the latest proposal but said it presented "no real
progress in the negotiations to stop the aggression".

Hamdan labelled the proposals "a waste of time" that aimed to give
"additional time for the occupation (Israel) to practise genocide".

- 'Everything is rubble' -

The war started with Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel which
resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP
tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although
the army says 42 are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,877 people, also mostly
civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Six more people were killed in an air strike at dawn targeting a family house
in Rafah, said medics at Nasser Hospital where the bodies were taken.

Artillery shelling also struck southern areas of Rafah city, witnesses said.

United Nations and other relief agencies have voiced alarm over the dire
humanitarian crisis and threat of starvation the war and Israeli siege have
brought for Gaza's 2.4 million people.

"It's really unbearable," said Louise Wateridge from UNRWA, the UN agency
supporting Palestinian refugees, speaking Friday after returning to the city
of Khan Yunis.

"Everything is rubble," she said. "And yet people are living there again...
There's no water there, there's no sanitation, there's no food. And now,
people are living back in these buildings that are empty shells."

In Israel, thousands of protesters again took to the streets of Tel Aviv on
Saturday night, demanding greater efforts to return the remaining captives,
and calling for early elections.

Former hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was rescued in a special forces raid on
June 8, said in a video address that "we can't forget about the hostages who
are still in Hamas captivity, and we must do everything possible to bring
them back home".

- 'An obliterating war' -

The Gaza conflict has also led to soaring tensions on Israel's northern
border with Lebanon, where the army has traded cross-border fire with the
Hezbollah movement since October.

Hezbollah is part of the "axis of resistance" of Iran-backed armed groups
against Israel and its Western allies. The grouping also includes militants
in Iraq and Yemen's Huthi rebels.

Israel's military said this month that its plans for a Lebanon offensive had
been "approved and validated", prompting Hezbollah to respond that no part of
Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict.

Iran's mission to the UN, on social media Saturday, said it "deems as
psychological warfare the Zionist regime's propaganda about intending to
attack Lebanon".

It also warned its arch foe that, "should it embark on full-scale military
aggression, an obliterating war will ensue".

"All options, incl. the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the
table."

Iran, which backs Hamas, has praised the October 7 attack as a success but
has denied any involvement.