logo
Israeli air strikes kill 33 Palestinians in Gaza

Israeli air strikes kill 33 Palestinians in Gaza

The fighting came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to fly to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at pushing forward ceasefire efforts.
US president Donald Trump has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether.
Some 20 people were killed and 25 wounded after Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital that services the area.
In southern Gaza, 13 Palestinians were killed by strikes in Muwasi, an area on Gaza's Mediterranean where many displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis told The Associated Press. Five of the dead belonged to the same family, according to the hospital.
The Israeli military made no immediate comment on the individual strikes, but said it had struck 130 targets across the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.
It said the strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they had killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.
The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
The strikes occur as efforts to reach a ceasefire deal appeared to gain momentum. Mr Netanyahu's office said his government would send a negotiating team to Qatar on Sunday to conduct indirect talks, adding that Hamas was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the proposal.
The planned talks in Qatar come ahead of Mr Netanyahu's scheduled visit to Washington on Monday to meet Mr Trump to discuss the deal. It is unclear if an agreement will be reached ahead of the Israeli prime minister's White House meeting.
Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Mr Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group's destruction.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Moment Hamas boss is killed in Israeli strike on car in Lebanon is revealed - as shocking extent of October 7 sex attacks is laid bare
Moment Hamas boss is killed in Israeli strike on car in Lebanon is revealed - as shocking extent of October 7 sex attacks is laid bare

Daily Mail​

time43 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Moment Hamas boss is killed in Israeli strike on car in Lebanon is revealed - as shocking extent of October 7 sex attacks is laid bare

This is the moment a top Hamas commander was killed in Lebanon in a lethal I sraeli airstrike on Tuesday. Footage captured the moment Mehran Mustafa Ba'jur was hunted by the Israeli Defence Forces in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli after his vehicle was targeted as he drove down a road in an intelligence-led strike. The six-second aerial video, which was shared by the IDF on Tuesday evening, shows the black car being blown up, with heavy smoke billowing out. According to the IDF, Bajur 'advanced and directed numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis and the IDF, spent years establishing Hamas' military capabilities in Lebanon, was responsible for Hamas' force-buildup efforts, and purchased weapons through his connections with other terrorist organizations in the area.' The IDF also claimed that Bajur was responsible for rocket fire attacks toward the towns of Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona, and additional cities across Israel. 'His elimination significantly degrades Hamas' terror activity in Lebanon', the Israeli military added. Lebanon said three people were killed in a strike near Tripoli that the IDF said had targeted the Hamas militant, the first on the north since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah. Lebanon's health ministry also said that the strike on the vehicle wounded 13 people in an area that is close to a Palestinian refugee camp. Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of cross-border hostilities launched by Hezbollah in October 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally. Israel has struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon, including since the ceasefire. The strike came as a new Israeli report published on Tuesday concluded that sexual violence was widespread and systematic during the Hamas-led incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023. The Dinah Project, aiming to 'achieve recognition and justice' for the victims and survivors, published a major report compiling testimonies and evidence on alleged sexual violence on October 7 and against those in Hamas captivity. The report, part-funded by the British government and Israeli groups working in Israel and the US, identified 'clear patterns' in how alleged sexual violence was reported during the assault and according to hostages returning from Gaza. It assessed that 'Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapons, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorising and dehumanising Israeli society, a finding with significant implications for international justice mechanisms.' Hamas has denied that it forces committed sexual violence against women or mistreated female hostages. The report references three separate reports of mutilation, including two survivors from the IDF military base at Nahal Oz, who 'described [the] cutting off [of] victims' breasts'. They also cite a senior ZAKA employee (voluntary post-disaster response team), who told Dinah Project Members last year that a female body had been found in Kibbutz Be'eri with a metal object inserted in her vagina. A male body was also said to have been found in one of the kibbutzim, tied and naked with a metal object inserted in his groin, according to a ZAKA volunteer. A third case of a body of a male with an object inserted into his anus was described in the report. The report cited a file released by Israel's military which purported to show 'an astounding call between a Hamas terrorist (an UNRWA worker) and his officer', in which the former described a 'sabaya' (captive or sex slave), referring to her as a 'pedigree mare'. The strike on Tuesday also came as Israel and Hamas held ceasefire talks in Qatar and after five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza strip, one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year. Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite the November truce, mainly hitting what it says are Hezbollah targets but also occasionally targeting Hamas. It comes after a Hamas official admitted this week that the Palestinian terrorist group had lost control of about 80 per cent of its control over Gaza and that about 95 per cent of its leadership had been killed in Israeli strikes. The lieutenant colonel told the BBC on condition of anonymity that 'there's barley anything left of [Hamas'] security structure.' This aerial picture shows abandoned and torched vehicles at the site of the October 7 attack on the Supernova desert music Festival by Palestinian militants near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel on October 13, 2023 Israeli army soldiers search the remains of a torched vehicle for forensic evidence at the site of the October 7 attack on the Supernova desert music Festival by Palestinian militants near Kibbutz Reim 'The active figures have all been really, what's stopping Israel from continuing the war'. He added that there is now a security vacuum and that there is 'no control anywhere,' noting there are now criminal gangs 'everywhere'. His remarks came after Israel's then-defence minister Yoav Gallant declared that 'Hamas as a military formation no longer exists' and that it was engaged in guerrilla tactics. According to the Hamas official, the militants tried to regroup during the 57-day ceasefire with Israel earlier this year, but after the truce disintegrated in March, Israel has targeted the group's remaining structures. Back in May, the chief of Hamas in Gaza, Mohammad Sinwar, was eliminated by Israeli forces. Mohammad was one of Israel's most wanted and the younger brother of the militant group's former leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in October 2024. Yahya, known as the architect of the October 7 massacre, was killed after being hunted by intelligence services and the IDF for over a year. According to reports, Mohammad was killed on May 13 after the IDF dropped a large number of bombs on a tunnel hideout under a hospital in Gaza. The strike also came after five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza strip. Pictured: Ida the mother of Sgt. First Class Benyamin Asulin, who was killed in northern Gaza, mourns during his funeral on July 8, 2025 in Haifa, Israel. Asulin was one of five Israeli soldiers killed in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, last night when they were hit by a roadside bomb while patrolling on foot Multiple airstrikes pounded the European hospital in southern Gaza where the IDF claimed it had found 'Hamas terrorists in a command and control centre' underground. Footage showed huge clouds of smoke billowing out of the facility in Khan Younis on the Gaza strip. The Israel-Hamas war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,600 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

IDF presence in Gaza 'only issue' still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands
IDF presence in Gaza 'only issue' still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands

Sky News

timean hour ago

  • Sky News

IDF presence in Gaza 'only issue' still to be resolved in push for Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Sky News understands

Only one issue remains unresolved in the push to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, according to Sky sources. Intense negotiations are taking place in Qatar in parallel with key talks in Washington between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations have told Sky News that disagreement between Israel and Hamas remains on the status and presence of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza. The two sides have bridged significant differences on several other issues, including the process of delivering humanitarian aid and Hamas's demand that the US guarantees to ensure Israel doesn't unilaterally resume the war when the ceasefire expires in 60 days. On the issue of humanitarian aid, Sky News understands that a third party that neither Hamas nor Israel has control over will be used in areas from which the IDF withdraws. This means that the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) - jointly run by an American organisation and Israel - will not be able to operate anywhere where the IDF is not deployed. It will limit GHF expansion plans. It is believed the United Nations or other recognised humanitarian organisations will adopt a greater role. On the issue of a US guarantee to prevent Israel restarting the war, Sky News understands that a message was passed to Hamas by Dr Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian American who has emerged as a key back channel in the negotiations. The message appears to have been enough to convince Hamas that President Trump will prevent Israel from restarting the conflict. However, there is no sense from any of the developments over the course of the past day about what the future of Gaza looks like longer-term. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

Israeli plans for forced transfer of Gaza's population faces challenge by army reservists
Israeli plans for forced transfer of Gaza's population faces challenge by army reservists

The Guardian

time2 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Israeli plans for forced transfer of Gaza's population faces challenge by army reservists

Defence minister Israel Katz's plans for an internment camp on the ruins of Rafah mark an escalation beyond incitement to war crimes, already a mainstay of Israel's political discourse, to operational planning for mass forced displacement. Israeli lawmakers including cabinet ministers have repeatedly called for the 'cleansing' of Gaza, in the wake of Hamas's cross-border attacks on 7 October, backing the forced deportation of Palestinians to other countries and new Israeli settlements in the territory. However, Katz was the first senior cabinet member to lay out, in a briefing on Monday to Israeli media, measures to implement the displacement of Palestinians from most of Gaza. He said he had given orders to plan a 'humanitarian city', to hold Palestinians who would not be allowed to leave. Some would be moved to other countries, Katz said. Israeli officials describe this as 'voluntary' departure but the conditions in Gaza mean no displacement inside the territory or departure from it can be seen as consensual in legal terms, human rights lawyers say. Michael Sfard, one of Israel's leading human rights lawyers, said: 'This is not an expression of opinion or desire. Katz ordered the army to prepare. It has more meaning, because this guy holds the administrative power to actually do it.' Katz has the backing of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, currently meeting Donald Trump in Washington DC, Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday. However, experts say a political commitment does not mean Katz will be able to build the 'humanitarian city' he described or force the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, even with coercive measures including access to food. Alon Pinkas, an analyst and former top Israeli diplomat, said: '⁠The plan is by definition unviable and impractical, without even getting to the moral depravity of forcing a desolate million people into a de facto internment camp. 'Katz has a tendency to make outlandish, unfounded, chaos-stirring remarks (on Gaza, on Iran) that have the life expectancy of a mayfly.' However, it would be foolish to dismiss the plan to turn Rafah into a camp as purely political posturing given reported investment into planning for mass forced transfers, Pinkas added. 'There has been a feasibility study (by the Boston Consulting Group), so this may portend serious regard,' he said. Two partners from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) modelled the costs of 'relocating' Palestinians from Gaza, the Financial Times reported last week. BCG has fully disavowed the work and said it was unauthorised. Plans for the construction of camps called 'humanitarian transit areas', to house Palestinians inside and possibly outside Gaza, had previously been presented to the Trump administration and discussed in the White House, Reuters reported on Monday. Sfard is representing three Israeli reservists who in May filed a legal petition against Israel's military and government over the potential forced transfer of Palestinians. They argued that a reported objective of the 'Gideon's Chariots' operation in Gaza, to 'concentrate and move the population', violated international law. 'The IDF is being asked to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity,' their petition said, urging an intervention by the courts. Judges gave authorities weeks to respond, and on Monday's deadline the office of Israel's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, denied that displacing or 'concentrating' Palestinians was an operational goal. 'The IDF recommends and allows civilians who are located in combat zones to leave for their own protection, as long as IDF operations are ongoing in the area,' the letter said. 'It should be emphasized that concentration and mobilization of civilian population is not a part of the operation's aims and certainly the IDF is not coercing movement of population within or out of the Strip.' International law allows temporary evictions to protect civilians from hostilities but only if they meet key criteria, including ensuring that people forced to leave can return home, Sfard said. 'The prohibition on forced transfer and deportation is one of the oldest in modern international law, it dates back to the American civil war. So this it not something new, or that is still being debated in the international legal community.,' he said. 'Demographic engineering can be done by expulsion of people or bringing people into an area. Both are war crimes and it seems this government wants to do both.' Katz, who is apparently at odds with his own chief of staff about the Gaza campaign, made clear that Palestinians would not be allowed to leave his 'humanitarian city', which will cover less than a quarter of Gaza's current territory. Katz's spokesperson Adir Dahan did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the ministry said only Dahan could represent him. The IDF declined comment.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store