Israel calls up 60,000 troops as defence minister approves plans to seize Gaza City
Defence Minister Israel Katz's move, confirmed by a spokesperson, piled pressure on Hamas as mediators pushing for a ceasefire in the nearly two-year war in Gaza awaited an official Israeli response on their latest proposal.
While mediator Qatar had expressed guarded optimism over the latest proposal, a senior Israeli official said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all hostages in any agreement.
The framework that Hamas had approved proposes an initial 60-day truce, a staggered hostage release, the freeing of some Palestinian prisoners and provisions allowing for the entry of aid into Gaza.
Israel and Hamas have held on-and-off indirect negotiations throughout the war, resulting in two short truces during which Israeli hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The latest truce proposal came after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to conquer Gaza City, despite fears it will worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have mediated the frequent rounds of shuttle diplomacy.
Qatar said the latest proposal was 'almost identical' to an earlier version agreed by Israel, while Egypt said Monday that 'the ball is now in its (Israel's) court'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the plan, but said last week that his country would accept 'an agreement in which all the hostages are released at once and according to our conditions for ending the war'.
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said on social media that his group had 'opened the door wide to the possibility of reaching an agreement, but the question remains whether Netanyahu will once again close it, as he has done in the past'.
The latest truce proposal came as Netanyahu faces increasing pressure at home and abroad.
In Gaza, the civil defence agency reported Israeli strikes and fire killed 48 people across the territory on Tuesday.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the situation was 'very dangerous and unbearable' in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods of Gaza City, where he said 'shelling continues intermittently'.
The Israeli military declined to comment on specific troop movements, saying only that it was 'operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities' and took 'feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm'.
The military later said a strike in Khan Yunis overnight targeted a Hamas militant.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the Palestinian territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
In the Zikim area of northern Gaza on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw Palestinians hauling sacks of food aid along dusty roads lined with rubble and damaged buildings.
Gazan Shawg Al-Badri said it took 'three to four hours' to carry flour, what she called 'white gold', back to her family's tent.
'This bag is worth the whole world,' she said.
Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel's offensive has killed at least 62,064 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Israel has begun first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City, says Israeli military spokesman
CAIRO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Israel has entered the first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City after a clash with Hamas and already has a hold on the outskirts of the city, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin told reporters on Wednesday.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Macron decries ‘abject' Netanyahu claim of antisemitic surge in France
Emmanuel Macron has hit out at Benjamin Netanyahu for his 'abject' and 'erroneous' remarks after Israel's prime minister claimed that antisemitism had 'surged' in France after the country's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September. In a statement released late on Tuesday, the office of the French president pushed back against Netanyahu's claim. 'The analysis suggesting that France's decision to recognise the state of Palestine in September is behind the rise in antisemitic violence in France is erroneous, abject, and will not go unanswered,' it said. 'The current period calls for seriousness and responsibility, not generalisation and manipulation.' Relations between the two leaders have been strained since July, when Macron announced that France would become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state at next month's UN general assembly, in hopes of bringing peace to the region. At the time, Netanyahu, who is wanted by the international criminal court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, criticised the decision, saying that France 'rewards terror'. He added: 'A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel – not to live in peace beside it.' The move would see France join the group of UN members – at least 145 out of 193 – who now recognise or plan to recognise a Palestinian state, according to a tally by the news agency Agence France-Presse. In a letter sent to Macron earlier this week, Netanyahu accused the French president of not doing enough to confront the alarming rise of antisemitism in France. 'Your call for a Palestinian state pour fuels on this antisemitism fire,' Netanyahu wrote. A similar letter, with almost identical wording, was reportedly also sent to Australia's prime minister earlier this week. Responding to the allegations, Macron's office said that France 'protects and will always protect its Jewish citizens' and said that, since 2017, the president had systematically required the government to 'take the strongest possible action against the perpetrators of antisemitic acts'. According to the latest figures from France's interior ministry, 504 antisemitic acts were reported across the country between January and May this year, suggesting a 24% decrease from the previous year. The numbers, however, remain high, at double the number of reported incidents from the same time period in 2013. Members of France's Jewish community, one of the largest in the world, have repeatedly warned that antisemitic acts have surged since Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023. Most recently, the felling of an olive tree planted in memory of a young French Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 prompted outrage across the country, with Macron vowing to punish an act of 'antisemitic hatred'. Tensions between Israel and its traditional allies have been mounting in recent weeks following Macron's promise to recognise a Palestinian state – a move that elicited similar signals from Britain, Canada and Australia. This week, after sending Australia's prime minister a letter accusing him of fuelling antisemitism with his decision to recognise a Palestinian state, Netanyahu doubled down on his criticism of Anthony Albanese on Tuesday, saying he was a 'weak politician who had betrayed Israel'. Albanese brushed off the claims. 'I don't take these things personally,' he told reporters on Wednesday. 'I treat leaders of other countries with respect. I engage with them in a diplomatic way.' Hours after his office had sparred with Netanyahu, Macron highlighted plans to co-chair a conference on a two-state solution with Saudi Arabia in New York in September. Macron made the announcement as he criticised Israel's plans for a 'military offensive in Gaza', writing on social media that it 'can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war'. Global pressure has been mounting on Israel to address the situation in Gaza, where at least 62,000 people have been killed and a complete blockade on aid entering the Palestinian territory has led to widespread conditions of starvation. In July, two of Israel's most respected human rights organisations, B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and said the country's western allies had a legal and moral duty to stop it. The accusation echoes earlier positions taken by global human rights organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and Amnesty International. Israel denies is it carrying out a genocide, and says the war in Gaza is one of self-defence in response to the cross-border attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Israeli military will call up 60,000 reservists as it plans new phase of war in Gaza
The Israeli military is calling up to 60,000 reservists for a new offensive in Gaza City and other heavily populated areas of the war-torn strip. A siege on Gaza City is the first part of plans approved by Israel's security cabinet to take full military control of Gaza and force the entire 2.3 million population south. An official said tens of thousands of reservists will be called up in the next month, doubling the currently number to 120,000. It remains unclear when the operation will begin. Around 75 percent Gaza is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel. A wider offensive would force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid as experts say the territory is at imminent risk of famine. Israel's plans have also sparked internal controversy, with families of the remaining hostages fearing another military escalation could doom their loved ones, while former senior security officials say there is little to be gained militarily. Last week Netanyahu said that Israel will first allow civilians to leave the battle zones before forces move in on Gaza City, which he described as one of Hamas ' last two remaining strongholds. Earlier this week Hamas accepted a new ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators, which would include a 60 day truce and the release of half of the remaining hostages. A total of 50 hostages are believed to remain in Gaza, with only 20 thought to still be alive, out of the 250 taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023.. A source close to the talks told Reuters that, unlike previous rounds, Hamas accepted the proposal with no further demands. Neither Israel nor the United States have yet responded to the offer. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned offensive had triggered global outrage, with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying it will 'only bring more bloodshed' just hours after the initial announcement, UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, said it will lead to 'more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes'. Civilians in Gaza described how they need 'a miracle to save us', and the families of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas called it 'a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers'. Mr Netanyahu's office said its five main goals are: Israel's security control of the entire Strip, disarming Hamas, returning the hostages, demilitarisation of Gaza, and 'the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority'. In practice, sources briefed on the discussion said the Israeli military plan to begin 'gradually' at first – ordering the population of Gaza City to move and corral south of the tiny 25-mile enclave. The focus of the initial military offensive will be carried out by the symbolic date of 7 October 2025, after which a siege will be imposed on Gaza City and army forces 'will manoeuvre in it,' according to Kan, Israel's public broadcaster. Meanwhile, the people of Gaza are grappling with severe food shortages due to an Israeli blockade. More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, according to the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry. Israel's military struck Gaza City's eastern suburbs overnight in a bombardment which Gaza health authorities said killed at least 19 people. 'This time if there is no deal, I am afraid we will all die,' father of four Samir Abu Basel said. 'To die here or die wherever they would push us to, all the same. We have lost faith in this world, in our leaders too.'
