Israeli forces pull back after Gaza City attack, leaving dozens of bodies

Israeli forces retreated from some Gaza City districts overnight after a fierce, week-long military offensive, leaving dozens of dead and wrecked homes and roads in the Palestinian enclave's biggest urban area, residents and rescue service said on Friday.

The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said teams had collected around 60 bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past week from the area of Tel Al-Hawa and the edges of the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.

Both residents and rescue teams cautioned that while tanks withdrew from some areas, Israeli snipers and tanks continued to control high ground at some locations, and warned residents against trying to return to their homes in those areas.

"There are bodies scattered in the streets, dismembered bodies, there are bodies of entire families, there are also bodies inside a home of an entire family that was completely burned," Gaza Strip Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in comments carried by media in Hamas-run Gaza.

The Israeli military had said on Thursday that its forces were working to dismantle Hamas capabilities in Gaza City and that it "follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm." 

It said the same was not true of Hamas.

On Friday, a senior Hamas official blamed Israel for a failure to build on momentum created when the Islamist faction dropped a key demand in the US-drafted ceasefire offer a week ago to clear the way for a deal.

"Israel hasn't made a clear stance over Hamas proposal. After discussion with the mediators in Doha, Qatar, Israel told them the delegation would go back for consultation with the Israeli government," the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

"There is an attempt at stalling and wasting time," the official said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Reuters