GAZA: Zionist forces were engaged Sunday in “intensive battles” in southern Gaza, the army said, as CIA chief William Burns met with Zionist, Egyptian and Qatari officials for ceasefire talks. As fighting raged, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for continued support for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, threatened by a fierce row over alleged staff involvement in Hamas’ Oct 7 attack.

Several of the agency’s top donors including the United States and Germany have halted funding to UNRWA, which has been at the heart of humanitarian efforts in Gaza, over the Zionist claims. Guterres called on donor states to guarantee the flow of vital aid to the besieged Gaza Strip, saying late Saturday that “the dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met”.

The Zionist army reported “intensive battles” in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis, where it said special forces eliminated “terrorists” and seized weapons. The health ministry in Gaza said at least 24 people were killed Sunday in Zionist strikes on Khan Yunis, where the sound of  gunfire reverberated throughout the day. Strikes were also carried out in central and northern Gaza, the army added.

Meanwhile, Burns was in Paris on Sunday for talks with top Egyptian, Zionist and Qatari officials, sources close to the participants said, after media reports suggested some progress in negotiations towards a halt to hostilities. More than three months of war have led to a spiraling humanitarian crisis and mass displacement within the Palestinian territory, with many Gazans driven south towards the Egyptian border.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, warned that suspending UNRWA funding “overtly defies” an order issued Friday by the International Court of Justice to allow more aid into Gaza. The UN’s top court also said the Zionist entity must prevent genocidal acts in its war with Hamas, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.

UNRWA on Friday said it had it had fired several employees over the Zionist entity’s accusations that some of its staff were involved in the Oct 7 attack that sparked the war. The Zionist entity’s ensuing military offensive has killed at least 26,422 people in Gaza, most of them women and children.

Bassam Al-Masry, displaced from north Gaza to Rafah in the far south, said if aid was cut off it would be “a major disaster” and “there will be famine”. The agency “are the ones giving us flour, food and drinks,” he said. Guterres said the “abhorrent alleged acts” of some UNRWA staff should not mean that its thousands of other humanitarian workers should be penalized. “I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” Guterres said.

The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, warned in a social media post that funding cuts meant its operation in Gaza was close to collapse. A statement from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office said the threat to UNRWA’s operations could “disproportionately punish millions of our people without just cause”.

The Zionist entity’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, charged that funding for the agency “will be used for terrorism” and urged donors to await “a comprehensive investigation of the organization”. Zionist Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on Lazzarini to quit after saying earlier the body, whose ties with the Zionist entity have been strained for years, “must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development”.

With combat ongoing, diplomatic efforts to find a solution have gathered pace. The New York Times said on Saturday US-led negotiators were getting closer to an agreement under which the Zionist entity would suspend its war in Gaza for about two months in return for the release of more than 100 hostages. Quoting unidentified US officials, it said negotiators had developed a draft agreement that would be discussed in Paris on Sunday.

The Kerem Shalom crossing in the Zionist entity, where aid is inspected and sent into Gaza, was blocked on Sunday by protesters including the families of hostages, Zionist officials said. AFPTV footage showed multiple aid trucks turning back and leaving the crossing point to return to Egypt. Trucks were also blocked on Thursday and Friday.

Palestinians are meanwhile fleeing south towards Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where the UN says most of Gaza’s estimated 1.7 million displaced people have reached. Many of them live in “conditions of desperation conducive to a complete breakdown in order”, said Ajith Sunghay of the UN Human Rights Office. – AFP