Israel moves to derail potential Gaza deal as attacks continue

Israel will continue to attack Gaza despite Hamas agreeing to surrender its weapons, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Sunday.

In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Cohen denied claims that Israel had agreed to end its assault and backed a full military takeover of Gaza.

Exiled Palestinian official Mohammad Dahlan had earlier claimed that the US would ensure Israel ends its assault on Gaza following Hamas's agreement to disarm.

In a post on Saturday, the former Fatah official said he had received assurances from Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner that Israel would from Sunday observe the ceasefire and end its attacks.

"Mr. Jared Kushner has assured us that he has reached an agreement with the Israeli side to cease the assaults on Gaza starting tomorrow morning," he wrote on social media on Saturday evening.

But he edited the post a few hours later, writing instead that Kushner "informed us that he is working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks on Gaza".

Hamas's agreement to disarm has made little difference in stopping Israel's assault, which has killed more than 1,230 Palestinians since October when the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect.

In the latest bombardment, Israeli forces killed at least 15 people on Sunday - including two children - in what medics said was the biggest daily death toll in weeks.

A senior Hamas official on Sunday accused Israel of attempting to undermine efforts to end the war.

"This escalation, coinciding with progress on the political track, clearly demonstrates that the occupation government is seeking to undermine efforts aimed at ending the war and to impose facts on the ground by force," Basem Naim said in a statement.

The Palestinian group says it will hand over its weapons only if Israel ends its attacks and withdraws its forces to the line agreed in last year's ceasefire negotiations. In the nine months since the agreement, Israel has seized another 20 percent of Gaza's territory.

Israel has refused either to stop its attacks or withdraw to the yellow line until Hamas is fully disarmed.

Ines Abdel Razek, the co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, said that without outside pressure Israel will continue to derail efforts to end the war.

"Just like any phased 'agreement' or 'ceasefire' we can only repeat again and again: the Israeli regime always acts in bad faith, has never committed to agreements or ceasefires and cannot be trusted," she told The New Arab. "This new 'phase' won't be different."

"An Israeli withdrawal is very unlikely unless the world finally wakes up and holds Israel to account."

Dahlan's influence

A key powerbroker, Dahlan has retained political influence since his expulsion from Fatah more than a decade ago.

He has lived in the United Arab Emirates since 2011 where he became a close aide to President Mohammed bin Zayed.

Dahlan is reported to be playing a behind-the-scenes role in ending the war, working closely with Kushner on the Board of Peace's reconstruction plans.

One of his aides claimed this week that it was his intervention that helped secure the breakthrough in the board's negotiations with Hamas over disarmament.

Dahlan is a strident critic of Hamas and helped lead Fatah's US-backed gambit to undermine its victory in the 2006 legislative election. He led the Palestinian Authority's security forces in Gaza during the Fatah-Hamas clashes a year later which resulted in Hamas taking control of the strip.

He is also a fierce rival of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and has long been touted as a potential successor to the 90-year-old Fatah chief.