• Gaza’s civil defense agency said the 60 bodies were found under the rubble in Shujaiya neighborhood
• Israel’s operation there had left ‘more than 300 residential units and more than 100 business destroyed’

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Around 60 bodies were found under the rubble of a Gaza City neighborhood, officials in the Hamas-run territory said Thursday, after Israel’s military declared an end to its operation there.

The upsurge in fighting, bombardment and displacement in the eastern district of Shujaiya came as talks were held in mediator Qatar toward a truce and hostage release deal.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that his administration was “making progress” toward a ceasefire agreement as he called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

His statement came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that Israel retain control of key Gaza territory along the border with Egypt — a condition that conflicts with Hamas’s position that Israel must withdraw from all Gaza territory after a ceasefire.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said around 60 bodies had been found under the rubble in Shujaiya, after some of Gaza City’s heaviest combat in months.

Hamas said Israel’s operation there had left “more than 300 residential units and more than 100 business destroyed.”

Mohammed Nairi, a Shujaiya resident, said he and others returning to the neighborhood had seen “immense destruction that defies description. All the houses were demolished.”

Israel’s military said on Wednesday it had completed its mission in Shujaiya after two weeks, but bombardments and fighting continued to shake Gaza City.

Witnesses said tanks and troops had moved on to other parts of the city.

An AFP correspondent reported air strikes on the Sabra neighborhood while militants engaged in heavy clashes with Israeli forces in Tel Al-Hawa.

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.

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.

Speaking after the team’s return, Netanyahu said Israel needed control of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s border with Egypt to stop weapons reaching Hamas.

He added that Israel must also be allowed to keep on fighting until its war aims of destroying Hamas and bringing home all hostages are achieved.

AFP