Israel issues new Gaza evacuation orders as military offensive widens
The announcement comes as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, though negotiations have been stalled for months.
The area of Gaza under the evacuation order is also where many international organisations attempting to distribute aid are located.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned the military will attack 'with intensity' against militants. He called for residents, including those sheltering in tents, to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza's southern shore that the Israeli military has designated a humanitarian zone.
Gaza's population of more than two million Palestinians are in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Hamas triggered the 21-month war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty hostages remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel's military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many militants are among the dead but says more than half of those killed have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
The Hostages Family Forum, a grassroots organisation that represents many of the families of hostages, condemned the evacuation announcement and demanded that Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli military explain what they hope to accomplish in the area of central Gaza, accusing Israel of operating without a clear war plan.
It said: 'Enough. The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all of the hostages.'
On Saturday night, tens of thousands of protesters once again marched in Tel Aviv to call for an end to the war.
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Scotsman
3 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why Keir Starmer's government needs to urgently recognise Palestine
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It seems that with every day the situation we see depicted in news footage from Gaza becomes more hopeless. More horrific. Every report to the UK Parliament becomes more difficult to listen to, more frustrating as we know that whatever calls we make to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are unlikely to be heeded. What we're seeing is difficult to believe because we want to hold onto the hope that it isn't possible. We hear journalists describing the crisis are facing the same deprivations. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Increasingly there is agreement across Parliament that it is time we recognised Palestine as a state. We cannot wait for a peace process, one which has consistently failed to deliver its only aim, to come to an agreed path to statehood for the Palestinians. For too many people, it's already too late. Palestinian and Israeli alike. A boy, clearly in distress, queues for food in a charity kitchen in Gaza City earlier this month (Picture: Bashar Taleb) | AFP via Getty Images Students trapped in Gaza This week I received a letter of thanks from a Palestinian academic. A writer and scholar, she wanted me to know how grateful she was that I had written asking the UK Government to ensure safe passage of students and researchers to the University of Edinburgh. She has an unconditional offer to study for a PhD in English literature there, but the closure of the UK visa office in Gaza is denying her and others the opportunity to escape, leaving her stranded amidst the devastation of war. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The week before, I sat in Parliament with an Israeli mother who pleaded for MPs' support to press for the release of her son's body. He was one of the 251 hostages taken on October 7. The world they both knew, and we recognised, changed forever that day. A world shocked by the brutality of the Hamas attack and murder of almost 1,200 people, the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, stood in solidarity and mourning with Israel. Since then, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry claims almost 58,000 people have died and 90 per cent of homes have been destroyed. Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas after October 7 was in no doubt. But the scale of the destruction and acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza which ensued has brought widespread condemnation. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'A concentration camp' Many of us who have long regarded ourselves as friends of Israel are distraught at Netanyahu's failure to heed international opinion. One of his predecessors, Ehud Olmert, has criticised the government's plans for a so-called 'humanitarian city' for the Palestinians in Gaza saying: 'It is a concentration camp. I'm sorry.' It has to stop. Myself and my fellow Liberal Democrat MPs have already written to the government calling for recognition of Palestine. And pressure has been mounting this weekend on Keir Starmer to follow French President Emmanuel Macron's lead and announce immediate recognition as others have done. We know that has not been the preferred timescale of this government. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said recently: '…I wish I could say that if we were to recognise tomorrow, it would bring this war to an end, but I am afraid I am not sure that is the case. What is required now is painstaking diplomacy to get to a ceasefire…' For those whose lives have been destroyed, or whose loved ones have been lost, that may not be enough.
New Statesman
3 minutes ago
- New Statesman
Will Keir Starmer recognise Palestine?
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Maskell was one of 60 MPs to sign a letter to the Foreign Secretary in July calling for Palestine's immediate recognition. Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby agreed: 'We had a vote over a decade ago about Palestine. [Recognition] was in the manifesto. What we're seeing now with the genocide, there's the political will now from all sides of the house to do something.' Byrne said now is the time for the UK to step up and take international responsibility. 'The UK has the opportunity to do the right thing. We are one of the world leaders and sometimes you need a leader to take the lead.' He criticised the government for acting 'extremely slowly' on Gaza. Even more moderate back-bench Labour MPs are ramping up the pressure on the government. One member of the 2024 intake told me, 'It's beyond horrific, we have to seriously consider our relationship with Israel.' Israel has now offered a brief cessation of its full scale aid blockade, and Lammy has said the channelling of aid into the Gaza strip must be 'urgently accelerated'. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe No country is likely to get involved in this conflict militarily (unless a UN peacekeeping force is assembled), instead, more substantial diplomatic levers could be pulled such as suspending the UK-Israel trade agreement and imposing sanctions not only on the most outspoken ministers (as the UK has already done with Smotrich and Ben Gvir) but all Israeli political and military leaders involved in the conflict. Many Labour MPs would agree with this. Byrne called for an 'arms embargo, military cooperation to be ended, and comprehensive sanctions'. And it is not just Labour. 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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Released Israeli-Argentinian hostage fights for brother still held by Hamas
As Israel has announced steps to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza, a former Israeli-Argentinian hostage knows first-hand what that could mean for captives of the Hamas militant group. Iair Horn, who spent a year and a half in captivity, said hostages could tell when more aid was available because they would receive more food. 'When there's less food, then there's also less for the hostages. When there's aid, there's a possibility you might get a cucumber,' said Horn, 46. Hamas militants kidnapped Horn from his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with 250 other people, during the group's cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. He was released Feb. 15 after 498 days in captivity. For most of that time, he was held in an underground cell in a tunnel with several other hostages, including his younger brother Eitan Horn, 38. Since his release, Iair Horn has deferred his own recovery to fight for the release of his brother and the other 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed to be alive. Negotiations collapse again Hearing that negotiations between Israel and Hamas were once again frozen over the weekend was devastating for his family, Horn said. Since his release, he has made four trips to the U.S., where he has met with President Donald Trump and other American leaders to plead for the hostages. He wasn't sure what to make of a comment Thursday by Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said the U.S. would consider 'alternative options' after recalling its negotiating team from Qatar. 'I'm not a politician, and I'm not getting into those things because I don't understand them. What I understand is very simple: I want my brother back,' Horn said. 'My life is frozen right now. I live in a nightmare that every day they are kidnapping me anew,' he said. Horn, who is single, is currently living with family in Kfar Saba, a city near Tel Aviv. Previously, he worked a variety of jobs in Kibbutz Nir Oz, including in education, maintenance and the kitchen. He also ran the kibbutz pub. Every morning when he opens his eyes, he must think for a few moments to remember where he is, to remember he is no longer a hostage, Horn said. He's gained back some of the weight he lost in captivity, but his list of physical and psychological ailments is long. He does not know where he will live, what he will do in the future, or if he will go back to Nir Oz. The only thing he concentrates on is advocating for his brother's release. 'I never imagined that another half year would pass without seeing my little brother,' he said. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The agency's count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see the ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Brothers were held together Iair Horn is the oldest of three brothers who grew up in Argentina. He moved to Israel at age 20, followed by his middle brother, Amos. Eitan and their parents, long divorced, joined later. On Oct. 7, 2023, Eitan was visiting Iair at his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz when the sirens started, warning of incoming missiles. Soon they received text messages alerting them to the fact that militants had infiltrated the kibbutz. Militants entered Iair's home, where he was hiding in the reinforced safe room with Eitan. Iair attempted to hold the door shut until they began shooting through the door. Then he decided to surrender, worried they might use grenades or stronger weapons. Iair, who was immediately taken into Gaza, didn't know what had happened to his brother until around the 50th day of his captivity, when the militants placed the two brothers together, and Iair realized Eitan had also been kidnapped. Being together, even in their small, barred room, was a stroke of luck, Iair said. 'There's a lot of time with nothing to do, and we talked a lot about our childhoods, about elementary school, about the youth movement, about soccer,' he said. 'We tried to keep our sense of humor. He would ask me, did you brush your teeth? And I'd ask him, did you wash your bellybutton?' 'It was silly things, silly things between siblings that I don't have right now. Many times it happens now that something happens to me on the street that I have to tell him. And I can't, and I'm so sorry,' he said, starting to cry. Captors tell hostages that two will be released For most of the time, the Horn brothers were held with three other hostages. In early February, their captors came to the group of five and said that two would be released. 'For four days, we're looking at each other and wondering if we can decide or influence the decision,' he said. After four days, the captors arrived with a small plate of snacks and a video camera. They announced that Iair and another hostage would be leaving and filmed the emotional interaction between Iair and Eitan. Hamas later released the video on its social media channels, as it has with other videos of the hostages filmed under duress. Their last night together, Eitan and Iair laid side by side in silence. 'There was no conversation because in your head you don't want to have a conversation as if it's your last conversation,' Iair Horn said. When their mother, Ruty Chmiel Strum, learned that Iair was coming out but not Eitan, she said to anyone who would listen, "Why are you doing this to my sons? They are together and you're separating them?' No one gave her an answer, but Strum clung to hope that Eitan would be released soon. Now she mostly ignores news about the negotiations, tuning out the information to protect herself. She said she raised her three boys 'as a single body,' and their support for each other is unshakable. She clasps Iair's hand as they sit together on the couch in her home and looks forward to the day Eitan returns. 'I will feel the hug of my three sons, enjoying life, each supporting each other," she said. "It will happen.'
