Gaza City, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes and tanks bombarded eastern districts of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, according to witnesses and medics on Tuesday, as Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya prepared to travel to Cairo, Egypt for renewed talks aimed at reviving a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal.
The latest round of indirect negotiations in Doha, Qatar ended in deadlock in late July, with Israel and Hamas trading blame over the lack of progress on a 60-day truce and hostage-release deal. Israel has since announced plans for a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City — territory it briefly captured shortly after the war’s outbreak in October 2023 before withdrawing. Militants have since regrouped, waging a largely guerrilla-style war.
How long a fresh Israeli incursion into the northern city, now largely reduced to rubble, might last remains unclear. Critics, including Israel’s own military chief of staff, warn the operation could endanger surviving hostages and trap soldiers in urban combat. The plan has also drawn international condemnation, with aid groups warning of worsening displacement and hunger among the estimated one million Palestinians still in the Gaza City region.
Overnight strikes killed seven people in two homes in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district and four more in an apartment building downtown, witnesses said. In southern Khan Younis, Gaza, five people — including a couple and their child — were killed when an Israeli missile hit their house. Four others died in a strike on a tent camp in Mawasi, Gaza, medics reported.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the reports and insisted its forces take precautions to reduce civilian harm. It also claimed that dozens of militants had been killed in northern Gaza over the past month and that more militant tunnels had been destroyed.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that five more people, including two children, died in the past 24 hours from starvation and malnutrition, bringing the total to 227 deaths — 103 of them children — since the war began. Israel disputes these figures.
The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants crossed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s subsequent air and ground campaign has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and has left much of the territory in ruins with severe shortages of food, water, and shelter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from far-right coalition allies who demand an outright takeover and re-settlement of Gaza, has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said Hamas is ready to return to negotiations, but deep divides remain over the scale of any Israeli military withdrawal and demands for Hamas to disarm before the creation of a Palestinian state — a condition the group rejects.
An Arab diplomat said mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not given up. He added that Israel’s announcement of a new Gaza City offensive may not be a bluff but could be aimed at pushing Hamas back to the table.
Leave a comment