Summary
Here’s a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of “basic quantity” of food into Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “On the recommendation of the IDF and based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip,” the prime minister’s office said.
The Israeli military says it has begun extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of a new assault on the territory. The Israeli ground forces are being supported by the county’s air force.
At least 53,339 Palestinian people have been killed and 121,034 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. “There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads,” the health ministry wrote in its latest update on Telegram.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that “we’re in a race against time to avoid famine” in Gaza. Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza.
Hamas official offers to release more hostages in exchange for ceasefire and 300 prisoners. A senior Hamas official has told CNN: “We agree to release seven to nine hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and release of 300 prisoners.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just indicated that Israel is open to a deal with Hamas that would include “ending the fighting” in Gaza. “Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal - whether according to the (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting, which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement.
The Israeli army has issued an evacuation order for several areas in Gaza ahead of what it is saying is an imminent attack. Addressing Gazans “in the Al-Qarara area, the Salqa municipality, and the south of Deir al-Balah, and the neighbourhoods of Al-Ja’farawi, Al-Suwar, Abu Hadab, and Al-Satar”, the army said: “This is a preliminary and final warning before the attack... For your safety, you must move immediately west to the known shelters in Al-Mawasi.”
Updated
This is the full press statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Israel’s decision to resume food aid into Gaza:
“On the recommendation of the IDF and based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip. Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas.
Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”
Here is the fuller statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza:
“Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip.”
Over the last year and a half, Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has killed over 53,000 Palestinians while leaving 2 million survivors forcibly displaced across the narrow strip amid severe food and aid shortages due to Israeli aid restrictions.
Israel has repeatedly claimed that there is “no hunger in Gaza” despite the overwhelming evidence of images of clearly malnourished Palestinians – including babies – coming out of the strip, as well as statements from the World Health Organization on the devastating impacts of Israel’s aid blockade.
A recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that Palestinians living in Gaza face “a critical risk of famine”.
Updated
Israel to allow resumption of humanitarian aid flow into Gaza
Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of “basic quantity” of food into Gaza, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, Reuters reports.
Separately, Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited two senior Israeli officials on Sunday saying that the resumption of aid flow will come through existing channels until a new mechanism is implemented.
Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators are protesting Israel’s deadly war in Gaza.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Tens of thousands of people turned out Sunday in The Hague to protest the Dutch government’s policy on Israel’s war on Gaza.
Many protesters dressed in red at the request of the organisers, Oxfam Novib, who wanted to symbolically trace a red line for Gaza.
Rally participants pressed the Dutch government to take action against Israel, arguing that it is commiting “genocide” in Gaza.
Organisers said more than 100,000 people took part, describing it as the largest demonstration in the country in 20 years. Police did not give an estimate.
One demonstrator, 25-year-old Rick Timmermans accused the government of supplying parts for the F-35 warplanes Israel was using for strikes on Gaza.
“Sometimes I’m ashamed of the government because it doesn’t want to set any limits,” said 59-year-old schoolteacher Jolanda Nio.
Israel’s army announced “extensive ground operations” Sunday as part of its newly expanded campaign in the Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes.
The International Committee of Red Cross released a statement on Sunday, urging for the “immediate respect and protection of civilians by all parties during the increased military operations in Gaza”.
“Entire families are trapped and are desperately seeking safety and security. The needs in Gaza are overwhelming and are beyond our capacity to respond,” the ICRC said amid Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza.
“Constant care must be taken to spare them,” the group added.
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Layla Moran has told the UK government to match its tougher tone on Israel with action as she warned that people in Gaza face “unbearably cruel levels of destitution”.
The Lib Dem MP called for further action, including recognition of a Palestinian state, in a renewed appeal for the family of Mohammad, an NHS doctor who operated on her last year, whose elderly parents remain stuck in northern Gaza.
He described conditions on the ground as a “slaughterhouse” and said people were on the brink of starvation.
The Guardian spoke to the pair last October when Mohammad’s parents were trapped in their home as drones stalked the streets outside. Shortly after, they were forced to flee when it was bombed in a strike that killed his cousin and nephew.
They have since returned, being among the lucky few in the neighbourhood to “have walls that remain standing”.
For the full story, click here:
Hamas official offers to release more hostages in exchange for ceasefire and 300 prisoners
A senior Hamas official has told CNN: “We agree to release seven to nine hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and release of 300 prisoners.”
Updated
One of the hostages who was released from Hamas captivity in February has been calling on the Israeli prime minister and defence minister to secure the release of another hostage, Alon Ohel, who he called his “brother”.
“Bring my brother back,” Eliya Cohen wrote on Facebook, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. “This isn’t a game, it’s not politics – this is reality. Alon is wounded, alone, in a situation no one should endure. I’m asking you not as leaders but as human beings, do whatever is necessary to bring him home. Now there’s an option, we’re at a critical moment, if you managed to bring me home, I trust you can succeed in bringing back the rest.”
Cohen was held with Ohel in Hamas tunnels. “I can’t stop thinking about Alon,” he wrote. “It’s been three months since I last saw him, and my heart is torn with longing, but it’s not just longing, it’s also fear. The last time I saw Alon, he was wounded. He wasn’t in good condition physically or mentally.”
“The thought of what he’s going through there, without treatment and without someone to talk to, is inconceivable,” he added. “Alon also deserves to breathe clean air, Alon also deserves to walk without anyone reprimanding him for it, Alon also deserves to enter a pizzeria on the street and choose his own food, he also deserves to feel independent and free from worry.”
Updated
Israel army issues evacuation order for several areas in Gaza ahead of attack
The Israeli army has issued an evacuation order for several areas in Gaza ahead of what it is saying is an imminent attack.
Addressing Gazans “in the Al-Qarara area, the Salqa municipality, and the south of Deir al-Balah, and the neighbourhoods of Al-Ja’farawi, Al-Suwar, Abu Hadab, and Al-Satar”, the army said: “This is a preliminary and final warning before the attack... For your safety, you must move immediately west to the known shelters in Al-Mawasi.”
Updated
Protesters have been marching through The Hague in the Netherlands, demanding their government halt Israel’s campaign in Gaza, in what organisers are calling the country’s biggest demonstration in 20 years.
According to the Associated Press, “tens of thousands” of peaceful protesters, clad in red, took part in the march.
The crowd included elderly protesters and babies in prams.
“We hope this is a wake-up call for the government,” said teacher Roos Lingbeek, attending the march with her husband and their 12-week-old daughter, Dido, who slept in a carrier as her parents brandished a sign simply reading: “STOP.”
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Here’s what the Gaza strip looks like today, from southern Israel:
Updated
Reuters has some images of security personnel clashing with left-wing demonstrators during a protest demanding to end the war in Gaza, in Sderot, Israel. (See 5.04pm)
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An Israeli military chief has said he is planning to continue the IDF’s latest large-scale offensive in northern Gaza until “until we break the enemy’s combat capabilities and defeat it where we operate”.
The IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi said the army would “allow the political leadership flexibility to advance any hostage deal”, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.
The newspaper is also reporting that around 500 people in Israel have marched from the southern city of Sderot towards the Gaza border to protest against the expansion of Israeli’s military campaign in the territory.
They carried signs showing images of children killed in Israeli airstrikes and wore shirts with messages like “Stop the atrocities in Gaza” emblazoned on them.
Organisers warned that “within hours or days, Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Netanyahu are planning to send tens of thousands of soldiers to occupy Gaza, starve more children, kill more Palestinian civilians, displace more families, and sacrifice the lives of the hostages and the security of us all to settle the Strip.”
Two of the protestors were reportedly detained by police after attempting to block a junction.
Nearly 65,000 people were uprooted from their homes in the Gaza strip between Thursday and Saturday, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz is reporting.
According to the newspaper, which has vowed to report critically on the war and “its dire consequences for all sides”, data from a coalition of international organisations which are monitoring population movement in Gaza indicates that at least 63,534 people have been displaced from their homes in the strip since Thursday.
Thousands are reported to have been displaced from the northern areas of Jabaliya and Tel al-Zaatar – both locations where the Israeli military reportedly dropped leaflets on Friday, urging residents to evacuate.
Airstrikes in Israel’s new offensive killed at least 103 people overnight, several news agencies are reporting.
Medics and hospitals have told the Associated Press that the number of people killed is “at least 103”, including dozens of children, while Reuters is reporting “at least 130” fatalities.
As reported earlier, the strikes appear to have forced northern Gaza’s main hospital, the Indonesian hospital, to close because of Israeli fire.
Israel’s military had no immediate comment. Its statement announcing the ground operations said preliminary strikes over the past week killed dozens of militants and struck more than 670 targets. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates from civilian areas.
“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by [overnight] Israeli bombardment,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told Reuters by phone.
“Hospitals are overwhelmed with a growing number of casualties, many are children,” he added.
One of Israel’s overnight strikes hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing women and children, wounding dozens and setting tents ablaze, medics said.
Staff at Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, said they received 40 dead and dozens of wounded overnight and urged people to donate blood.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 75% of its ambulances could not run because of fuel shortages. It warned that within 72 hours, all vehicles may stop.
“When the Jews want a truce, Hamas refuses, and when Hamas wants a truce, the Jews refuse it. Both sides agree to exterminate the Palestinian people,” Jabaliya resident Abu Mohammad Yassin told the Associated Press. He was among those interviewed by the news agency fleeing the new offensive on foot or in donkey carts. “For God’s sake, have mercy on us. We are tired of displacement.”
Updated
The Israeli army says two projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, shortly after it announced it had commenced “extensive ground operations” across the besieged Palestinian territory. (See 14.46pm)
The army said in a statement: “Following the sirens that sounded in Kissufim, two projectiles were identified crossing into Israel from the central Gaza Strip.”
It said one was intercepted and the other fell in an open area. No injuries were reported.
According to Agence France-Presse, Hamas’s armed wing claimed responsibility, saying the launches were linked to the new ground operation.
Updated
The Israeli plan to expand its war on Gaza was denounced by the UN’s deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq who told journalists at a media briefing in New York in early May that it would “inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza”.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
The Israeli military says it has begun extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of a new assault on the territory.
Ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have been continuing in Qatar for a second day but there are reports of little progress.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel was open to a deal with Hamas that would include “ending the fighting” in Gaza, but laid out conditions that have been repeatedly refused by the Palestinian militant group.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 130 Palestinians across Gaza overnight, according to Palestinian health officials.
At least 53,339 Palestinian people have been killed and 121,034 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in its latest update.
Gaza’s health ministry said all public hospitals in the north of the territory were “out of service” after relentless Israeli bombardments.
The territory’s health ministry accused Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”, targeting and sieging the Indonesian hospital in the north of the Strip which has reportedly been knocked out of service.
Humanitarian officials warn Gaza is on the brink of catastrophe, with a famine looming as food and fuel runs out due to a total Israeli blockade imposed in early March.
Israeli air defence systems intercepted a Houthi missile launched at the country this morning from Yemen, one of two fired by the Iran-backed rebel group towards Israel’s main airport – Ben Gurion - near Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital.
You can read more about the latest developments in Israel’s war on Gaza here.
On Saturday, Israel’s military announced the launch of “Operation Gideon’s Chariot”, which they say could lead to the seizure of swaths of Gaza and the displacement of much of the population to its south, in what would effectively amount to ethnic cleansing, with Palestinian people being forced to flee an intensified Israeli bombing campaign.
A defence official previously said the expanded assault would go ahead if no hostage deal was reached with Hamas by the end of Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, which finished on 16 May with no prospect of an agreement.
Updated
In a statement posted on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote:
Over the past week, the IAF conducted a preliminary wave of strikes, striking over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout Gaza to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations.
The IAF continues to provide consistent support to operating troops in Gaza.
Thus far, the troops eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites above and below ground, and are currently being deployed in key positions within Gaza.
The IDF will continue to operate against the terrorist organizations in Gaza as required, in order to defend Israeli civilians.
Israel's military announces the start of ‘extensive’ new ground operations in Gaza
The Israeli military says it has begun extensive ground operations throughout northern and southern Gaza as part of a new assault on the territory. The Israeli ground forces are being supported by the county’s air force.
Updated
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 130 Palestinian people across Gaza overnight, health officials said on Sunday in an updated death toll (see more details in our opening post).
As the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, notes in this story, Israel has put forward a plan to distribute humanitarian assistance from a series of hubs in Gaza run by private contractors and protected by Israeli troops.
The US has backed the plan, which has been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful by aid agencies because it could lead to the forced mass transfer of populations.
World Food Programme warns of 'race against time' to avoid famine caused by Israeli blockade in Gaza
The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that “we’re in a race against time to avoid famine” in Gaza.
Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the Israeli government claims there is “no shortage” of food in Gaza and has accused Hamas of looting aid. It says it imposed the blockade to pressure Hamas and secure the return of the remaining hostages.
“We call on the international community to act urgently to get aid flowing again. If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for too many,” the WFP said in a post on X.
Israel’s war, which has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven most of the population from their homes, has left the territory almost entirely reliant on international aid.
Amid Israel’s blockade, most community kitchens have now shut down. The main food providers inside Gaza – the UN’s WFP and World Central Kitchen — say they are out of food. Vegetables and meat are inaccessible or unaffordable. Crowds queue for hours for a small scoop of rice.
Updated
The Gaza health ministry says 464 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli military strikes on Gaza in the past week.
It also said that 1,418 others had been injured in the same period between 11 May and 17 May.
Updated
Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on a potential deal with Hamas comes as Israel intensifies its war in Gaza with a new offensive named “Gideon’s Chariots,” in which Israel says it plans to seize territory, displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Gaza’s south (in a proposal that would effectively amount to ethnic cleansing) and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
Israel has said the escalation of its assault is meant to increase pressure on Hamas, in order to agree to a temporary ceasefire that would free the remaining Israeli hostages, though this in itself wouldn’t necessarily end the war.
Hamas, which has been the sole ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007, says it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a pathway to ending the war as part of any new ceasefire deal.
But talk from Israeli officials of aiming to “conquer” the strip and establish a sustained presence there are at odds with Hamas’ position.
Updated
Israel open to 'ending the fighting' as part of Gaza deal - Netanyahu's office
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just indicated that Israel is open to a deal with Hamas that would include “ending the fighting” in Gaza.
“Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal - whether according to the (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting, which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a statement.
“Thanks to (Netanyahu’s) policy of exerting military and diplomatic pressure, the government has so far succeeded in bringing home 197 hostages, and is doing everything possible to return the 58 remaining captives,” the prime minister’s office said.
A senior Israeli official said there has been little progress in the (indirect) talks so far in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Updated
Gaza health ministry says all public hospitals in north of territory are 'out of service'
In an earlier post, we reported on the dire situation at the Indonesian hospital, which is reportedly under siege by Israeli forces.
Now Gaza’s health ministry has said that all public hospitals in the north of the territory were “out of service”.
“The Israeli occupation has intensified its siege with heavy fire around the Indonesian hospital and its surroundings, preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies - effectively forcing the hospital out of service,” the ministry said.
“All public hospitals in the North Gaza governorate are now out of service,” it added.
The Indonesian hospital’s director, Marwan al-Sultan, told Al Jazeera earlier that anyone who moves is being shot at and confirmed that the hospital can no longer provide services for patients.
Footage shows the evacuation of the wounded and patients from the Indonesian Hospital, northern Gaza, early this morning as the Israeli occupation forces and their quadcopters besieged the facility, in what could be the prelude to an invasion of the hospital. pic.twitter.com/5evly1yMMa
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 18, 2025
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As a reminder, South Africa has taken Israel to the UN’s top court and accused it of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel denies the charges.
Here are some examples of who else has accused Israel of genocide.
Previously, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said she believed Israel had committed “acts of genocide” in Gaza.
Following an investigation, Amnesty International said in a report published in December that Israel had “committed prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction” with the “specific intent to destroy Palestinians” in the territory.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) has stated “there is a legally sound argument that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza”, following research and analysis of evidence.
Similarly, Human Rights Watch (HRW) declared that “Israeli authorities are responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide”.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under an international arrest warrant since November over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. He denies the allegations.
More high profile figures have come out accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
As my colleague Sam Jones notes in this story, the former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused the Israeli government of committing genocide in Gaza and “carrying out the largest ethnic-cleansing operation since the end of the second world war in order to create a splendid holiday destination”.
Earlier this month, the former diplomat accused Israel of violating all the rules of conflict and of using the starvation of Gaza’s civilian population as a “weapon of war”.
“Three times more explosive power has been dropped on Gaza than was used in the Hiroshima bomb,” he said. “And for months now, nothing has been getting into Gaza. Nothing: no water, no food, no electricity, no fuel, no medical services. That’s what [Benjamin] Netanyau’s ministers have said and it’s what they’ve done.”
He added: “We all know what’s going on there, and we’ve all heard the objectives stated by Netanyau’s ministers, which are clear declarations of genocidal intent. Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide.”
Updated
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 53,339, says health ministry
At least 53,339 Palestinian people have been killed and 121,034 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads,” the health ministry wrote in its latest update on Telegram.
Helena Smith is a Guardian correspondent
Over in Greece, leftist groups and unions this weekend stepped up criticism of Israel staging another mass march in support of Palestinians in Athens.
Days after protestors gathered to commemorate the ‘Nakba’ catastrophe that forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes during the 1948 Middle East war that gave birth to the state of Israel, demonstrators were back on the streets, denouncing the brutal offensive waged by the Israeli army in Gaza.
“Greece is very near the Middle East and it feels the pain of the Palestinians,” said one woman requesting anonymity.
“It’s appalling what the (centre-right) Greek government is doing, supporting Netanyahu’s criminal regime. Israel should be internationally isolated, right now that is the only moral thing to do. ”
Marching towards the Israeli embassy, protestors called for the liberation of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza strip where widespread famine looms.
They also called for the “exemplary punishment” of Israel’s war crimes before the international criminal court.
Israel says it intercepted missile from Yemen after Houthis targeted Ben Gurion airport
The Israeli military said this morning it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel, where sirens sounded in several areas.
The Iranian backed Houthi rebel group said they had targeted Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, with two ballistic missiles in an overnight operation.
“The operation was carried out with two missiles, one a hypersonic Palestine 2 missile and a Zulfiqar missile,” the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said during a televised news conference.
He said the attack “successfully achieved its goal” after sirens had sounded across central Israel, sparking panic and reportedly sending hundreds of thousands to seek shelter in the middle of the night.
The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians being killed by Israeli forces in its assault on Gaza.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sana’a and killed several people.
Israel intensifying systematic targeting of hospitals in Gaza, health ministry says
Gaza’s health ministry has issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.
“After putting the European Gaza hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it said.
The territory’s health ministry described a “state of panic and confusion” among patients in the Indonesian hospital and said two patients were injured while trying to leave the hospital.
The Gaza healthcare system is barely operational because of repeated Israeli bombardment and raids on hospitals, with the blockade on aid supplies exacerbating the crisis.
“Hospitals are overwhelmed with the growing number of casualties, many are children, several cases of amputations and the hospitals, which have been hit repeatedly by the occupation, are struggling with shortages of medical supplies,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza’s health ministry spokesperson, told Reuters by phone.
Updated
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure on both the domestic and international front, has been accused of manipulating Israel’s war on Gaza to ensure his own political survival.
The Israeli leader is on trial for corruption charges and his opponents say he is deliberately finding reasons to prolong the assault so he can cling on to power as prime minister.
This includes shattering the January ceasefire deal with Hamas by launching a deadly wave of airstrikes on the territory in March, which families fear makes the return of Israeli hostages (alive) less likely.
Netanyahu said at the time that the wave of deadly airstrikes that violated the terms of the ceasefire was “only the beginning”, adding that Israeli forces would strike Hamas with “increasing force” and future ceasefire negotiations would “only take place under fire”.
A temporary first phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement, that came into effect in mid January, ended at the start of March. Hamas wanted to move to an agreed second phase, under which Israel would be required to negotiate an end to the war and withdrawal of its troops from Gaza, and Israeli hostages still held there would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
But talks on the second stage were at an impasse amid Israel’s demand that the first phase be extended until mid-April.
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What was proposed in the ceasefire talks in Qatar over the weekend?
As we mentioned in the opening post, there were ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar, which has acted as a mediator throughout the war, on Saturday.
According to BBC News, Hamas agreed to release nine hostages in exchange for a 60-day truce and Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners from detention.
Citing an official, the outlet reported that the deal would see entry of 400 aid trucks a day into Gaza and the evacuation of medical patients from the devastated territory.
A Palestinian official close to the talks said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
Israel has reportedly asked for proof of life of the hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza. It has not responded publicly to the proposal, but optimism over an agreement is low.
On Saturday morning, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said in a statement:
With the launch of Operation Gideon’s Chariots in Gaza, led with great force by IDF command, the Hamas delegation in Doha announced a return to negotiations on a hostage deal, contrary to the intransigent stance they had taken up until that moment.
More than 100 Palestinian people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn - report
At least 101 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to Al Jazeera.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 33 people, more than half of them children.
The Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis said it received the bodies of 20 people who were killed in multiple overnight Israeli airstrikes that hit houses and tents sheltering displaced families in the so-called “safe zone” of al-Mawasi.
In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah.
One Israeli airstrike in the Zweida town killed seven people, including two children and four women. The second hit an apartment in Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their child, the hospital said.
Hundreds of Palestinian people have been killed by the Israeli military since Saturday, including at hospitals and refugee camps.
The attacks are seen by many as part of efforts by Israel to displace Palestinians from the Strip and equivalent to ethnic cleansing as aid into the territory is blocked and residents forcibly removed from their homes.
The relentless bombing campaign came after Israel announced an intensification of its assault on Gaza late on Friday, in what it claimed was a fresh effort to force Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, to release hostages.
Hamas is believed to still hold around 57 of about 250 hostages seized in its October 2023 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people.
On Saturday, Hamas confirmed a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel was under way in Doha. A group official, Taher al-Nono, told Reuters both sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions”.
He added:
The Hamas delegation outlined the position of the group and the necessity to end the war, swap prisoners, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and allowing humanitarian aid and all the needs of the people of Gaza back into the strip.
Israel is yet to respond publicly to the proposed deal.
Humanitarian officials, meanwhile, say Gaza is on the brink of catastrophe as food and fuel runs out due to a total Israeli blockade imposed on 2 March, which has also cut off critical vaccines and medical supplies.
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