Israel-Gaza conflict: Kerem Shalom missile assault claims the lives of three troops

Israel-Gaza conflict: Kerem Shalom missile assault claims the lives of three troops

The rocket firing in the Kerem Shalom border region was attributed to the armed wing of Hamas. (Seen: An Israeli physician after the incident)

Following rocket firing from Hamas within the Gaza Strip, Israel closed the Kerem Shalom gate into Gaza.

According to Israel, the assault left three of their troops dead and several more injured.

One of the few ways to get food and medical supplies, as well as humanitarian relief, to Gaza is via this gate.

Two days of negotiations have been conducted by mediators in Egypt in an attempt to reach an agreement for a truce in Gaza and the release of Hamas captives.

Hamas issued a statement announcing that the most recent session had concluded on Sunday and that a team from Cairo will now go to Qatar to confer with the group's leadership.

According to sources, CIA head William Burns, who has also participated in mediation efforts, has departed the Egyptian capital for negotiations in Doha.

The proposed peace is said to include the release of some Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons as well as a 40-day ceasefire during which hostages would be freed.

Although Hamas said that it saw the present plan in a "positive light," it seems that the primary bone of contention is whether or not the ceasefire agreement would be long-term.

The group is demanding that any agreement include a clear commitment to ending the conflict, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed that demand on Sunday.

"This [Hamas's demands] cannot be accepted by the state of Israel. We are not ready to tolerate a scenario in which the Hamas brigades emerge from their bunkers, retake control of Gaza, reconstruct their military apparatus, and resume threatening Israeli citizens in the settlements around the southern mountains and throughout the nation."

"This will be a terrible defeat for the state of Israel," he said.

On October 7, waves of Hamas militants broke across Gaza's border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and capturing over 250 others. This marked the start of the conflict. In many Western nations, the group is prohibited as a terrorist organization.

Figures from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry show that over 34,600 Palestinians have died and over 77,900 have been injured during the ensuing Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Pressure to go on with the long-promised attack in Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians have sought sanctuary after fleeing violence in the northern and center parts of the strip, has come from inside Mr. Netanyahu's far-right coalition.

The US has insisted on seeing a plan to safeguard displaced Palestinians before it can support a military action that may result in large civilian losses.

There is also increasing domestic pressure on the Israeli administration.

128 of the 252 captives that Hamas abducted on October 7th remain missing, and at least 34 of them are thought to be dead.

The armed branch of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, claims responsibility for the assault on the Kerem Shalom crossing, claiming to have used short-range rockets to target soldiers.

Ten rockets were launched, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), from a location close to the Rafah border in southern Gaza, which is around 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) from Kerem Shalom.

According to the IDF, they shot from a location around 350 meters away from a civilian shelter before destroying the launcher and a military facility close by.

It described the launches as "another clear example of the terrorist organisation's systematic taking advantage of humanitarian facilities and spaces, particularly their continued use of the Gazan civilian population as human shields" .

Since the end of November, there has not been a respite in hostilities or a release of captives despite months of ceasefire negotiations going on without any progress.

There have been times when it seemed like a new deal would be reached soon, but it fell through before it could be signed.