Israel Steps Up Gaza Bombardment ahead of White House Talks on Ceasefire
Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.
A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave there was no sign of fighting letting up.
"Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. "In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions."
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says Palestinian militants embed among civilians. The Hamas groups deny this.
The heavy bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
NEXT STEPS
A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back", Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu's, was expected on Monday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel's military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
The war began when Hamas fighters stormed in to Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel's single deadliest day.
Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, has displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.
More than 80% of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israeli strike on Gaza seafront cafe kills at least 20 Palestinians
JERUSALEM — At least 20 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit a popular seafront cafe frequently used by activists, journalists, and local residents in western Gaza on Monday, according to medics and eyewitnesses. Rescue teams evacuated 20 bodies and dozens wounded from Al-Baqa Cafeteria, an outdoor venue which consisted of tents along the beach, a spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence told the BBC. He added that emergency crews were still searching through a deep crater left by the explosion. "I was on my way to the café to use the internet just a few meters away when a massive explosion hit," said Aziz Al-Afifi, a cameraman with a local production company, told the BBC. "I ran to the scene. My colleagues were there, people I meet every day. The scene was horrific - bodies, blood, screaming everywhere." Videos posted by activists on social media appeared to show the moment a missile, reportedly fired from an Israeli warplane, struck the area. Footage captured the aftermath of the attack, with bodies scattered across the ground. Al-Baqa Cafeteria had become a well-known space for journalists, activists, and remote workers, offering internet access, seating, and workspace along Gaza's Mediterranean coast. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The attack came after Israel carried out a wave of air strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight, triggering the mass displacement of hundreds of Palestinian families, witnesses said. Rescue teams recovered the bodies of five people, while dozens of injured civilians were evacuated to Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, according to local reports. The bombardment follows one of the largest evacuation orders issued since the war resumed in March. It comes amid increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refocus efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement. On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said on social media that Netanyahu was working on negotiating a deal with Hamas "right now". That came days after a senior Hamas official said mediators had intensified their efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled. A two-month ceasefire collapsed in March when Israel launched fresh strikes on Gaza. The ceasefire deal - which started on 19 January - was meant to have three stages, but did not make it past the first stage. Israel followed this with a total blockade on humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, which it partially eased after 11 weeks following pressure from US allies and warnings of starvation from global experts. The partial easing saw the creation of the controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Since GHF took over distribution operations, there have been almost daily incidents of killings and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid. Eyewitnesses and medics have blamed Israel, though Israel has said it has only fired warning shots towards people it considered a threat. Residents in Gaza City said dozens of Israeli air raids targeted densely populated eastern neighbourhoods, including Shujaiya, Tuffah, and Zeitoun. Videos posted by activists on social media captured scenes of chaos and explosions illuminating the night sky, followed by flames and thick plumes of smoke rising above the skyline. One of the strikes reportedly hit a school in Zeitoun that had been sheltering displaced families. "Explosions never stopped... it felt like earthquakes," Salah, 60, from Gaza City told Reuters news agency. "In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions," the father of five added. The five fatalities reportedly occurred in a strike at the Al Shati camp, to the west of Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had earlier ordered residents to leave large parts of northern Gaza, in anticipation of the attacks. Most of those displaced overnight moved westwards within Gaza City rather than to the southern region as instructed by the IDF. "We had no choice but to leave everything behind," said Abeer Talba, a mother of seven who fled Zeitoun with her family. "We got phone calls recordings in Arabic telling us we were in a combat zone and must evacuate immediately. "This is the seventh time we've been forced to flee," she added. "We're in the streets again, no food, no water. My children are starving. Death feels kinder than this." Amid the growing humanitarian crisis, fears are mounting that the evacuation orders and sustained air strikes are part of a broader Israeli plan to expand its ground offensive deeper into Gaza. But there is also speculation in Israeli media that some generals are close to concluding that military operations in Gaza are near to being achieved. That is also the view of many former army leaders who fear that the descent of the Gaza campaign into more attritional, guerilla-style warfare would lead to more deaths – of hostages, civilians and soldiers. The Israeli prime minister's next moves are being closely watched. While Benjamin Netanyahu's instincts have always been to continue the war and defeat Hamas, he is coming under increasing pressure at home and abroad to pursue a new ceasefire agreement. The Israeli military launched its bombardment of Gaza in response to the attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. More than 56,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. — BBC
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Iran-linked hackers threaten to release Trump aides' emails
Iran-linked hackers have threatened to disclose more emails stolen from US President Donald Trump's circle, after distributing a prior batch to the media ahead of the 2024 US election. In online chats with Reuters on Sunday and Monday, the hackers — who go by the pseudonym Robert — said they had roughly 100 gigabytes of emails from the accounts of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump adviser Roger Stone, and porn star–turned–Trump antagonist Stormy Daniels. Robert raised the possibility of selling the material but otherwise did not provide details of their plans. The hackers did not describe the content of the emails. US Attorney General Pam Bondi described the intrusion as 'an unconscionable cyber-attack.' The White House and the FBI responded with a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel, who said: 'Anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security will be fully investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' Halligan, Stone, a representative for Daniels, and the US cyberdefense agency CISA did not respond to requests for comment. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not return a message seeking comment. Tehran has in the past denied committing cyberespionage. Robert materialized in the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign, when they claimed to have breached the email accounts of several Trump allies, including Wiles. The hackers then distributed emails to journalists. Reuters previously authenticated some of the leaked material, including an email that appeared to document a financial arrangement between Trump and lawyers representing former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — now Trump's health secretary. Other material included Trump campaign communication about Republican office-seekers and discussion of settlement negotiations with Daniels. Although the leaked documents did garner some coverage last year, they did not fundamentally alter the presidential race, which Trump won. The US Justice Department, in a September 2024 indictment, alleged that Iran's Revolutionary Guards ran the Robert hacking operation. In conversations with Reuters, the hackers declined to address the allegation. After Trump's election, Robert told Reuters that no more leaks were planned. As recently as May, the hackers said, 'I am retired, man.' But the group resumed communication after this month's 12-day air war between Israel and Iran, which was capped by US bombing of Iran's nuclear sites. In messages this week, Robert said they were organizing a sale of stolen emails and wanted Reuters to 'broadcast this matter.' American Enterprise Institute scholar Frederick Kagan, who has written about Iranian cyberespionage, said Tehran suffered serious damage in the conflict and its spies were likely trying to retaliate in ways that did not draw more US or Israeli action. 'A default explanation is that everyone's been ordered to use all the asymmetric stuff that they can that's not likely to trigger a resumption of major Israeli/US military activity,' he said. 'Leaking a bunch more emails is not likely to do that.' Despite worries that Tehran could unleash digital havoc, Iran's hackers took a low profile during the conflict. US cyber officials warned on Monday that American companies and critical infrastructure operators might still be in Tehran's crosshairs.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said on Monday they supported the ceasefire between Israel and Iran and urged for negotiations to resume for a deal to address Iran's nuclear program, according to a joint statement. Since April, Iran and the US have held talks aimed at finding a new diplomatic solution regarding Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful, while Israel and its allies say they want to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon. 'We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran's nuclear program,' the G7 foreign ministers said. Last week, Trump announced a ceasefire between US ally Israel and its regional rival Iran to halt a war that began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran. The Israel–Iran conflict had raised alarms in a region already on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. Before the ceasefire was announced, Washington struck Iran's nuclear sites and Iran targeted a US base in Qatar in retaliation. The G7 foreign ministers said they urged 'all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilize the region.' US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff has said talks between Washington and Tehran were 'promising' and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal. The G7 top diplomats denounced threats against the head of the UN nuclear watchdog on Monday, after a hardline Iranian newspaper said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi should be tried and executed as an Israeli agent. On June 12, the UN nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not. The UN nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, says it has 'no credible indication' of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
