Israeli troops leave West Bank’s Jenin with Gaza talks deadlocked

JENIN, Palestinian Territories, Sept 06 (AFP): Israeli forces appeared to be winding down a deadly 10-day raid in a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank on Friday, as key ally Germany warned against treating the territory like Gaza.
There was no official confirmation from the Israeli military that it had withdrawn from Jenin, a bastion of Palestinian armed groups, but AFP journalists reported residents returning to the city following the fighting.
The reported pull-out came with Israel at loggerheads with its main ally the United States over talks aimed at forging a truce in the Gaza war, now nearly in its 12th month.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Israel and Hamas to finalise a truce deal, saying: "I think based on what I've seen, 90 percent is agreed."
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied this in an interview with Fox News, saying: "It's not close."
Washington, along with fellow mediators in the talks Qatar and Egypt, has been pushing a proposal to bridge gaps between both sides which trade blame for the failure to reach a deal.
Netanyahu insists on an Israeli military presence on the border between Gaza and Egypt along the so-called Philadelphi Corridor.
Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal, saying it agreed months ago to a truce agreement outlined by US President Joe Biden.
In Israel on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that "a purely military approach is no solution to the situation in Gaza", referring to the recovery of six more dead hostages announced on Sunday.
She also warned against calls by hardline right-wing members of Israel's cabinet for the military to take a similar approach to the West Bank as in Gaza.
"When members of the Israeli government themselves call for the same approach in the West Bank as in Gaza, that is precisely what acutely endangers Israel's security," Baerbock told reporters.
Her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz said Iran wanted to "arm" the West Bank "just like" Gaza.
"Nobody wants a deal for the hostages' release and a ceasefire more than Israel", he added and blamed Hamas for the impasse in talks.
The October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians including some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.
Of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the attack, 97 remain in Gaza including 33 the Israeli military says are dead. Scores were released during a one-week truce in November.
Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 40,878 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Most of the dead are women and children, according to the UN rights office.
Netanyahu is under increasing pressure both internationally and domestically, with Israelis enraged and grief-stricken after the bodies of the six hostages were retrieved from Gaza.
Meanwhile, Hamas called on the United States Thursday to "exert real pressure" on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no deal in the making.
The two sides have traded blame over stalling talks for a ceasefire and hostage exchange as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal following the deaths of six Gaza captives.
Hamas's Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya called on the US to "exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government" and "abandon their blind bias" towards Israel. But Netanyahu said there is "not a deal in the making".
"Unfortunately, it's not close but we will do everything we can to get them to the point where they do make a deal," he told US media.
Netanyahu insists that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas, whose October 7 attack on Israel started the war.
Hamas is demanding complete Israeli withdrawal from the area and on Thursday said Netanyahu's position "aims to thwart reaching an agreement".
The Palestinian militant group says a new deal is unnecessary because they agreed months ago to a truce outlined by Biden.