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 this morning, while Israeli officials were due in the US 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 territory there was no sign of fighting letting up.
"Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said one man in 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, health authorities said, including ten people killed in Zeitoun.
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 militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.
A day after Mr Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back", Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Mr Netanyahu's, was expected today at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.
In Israel, Mr 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 yesterday, Mr 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 7 October 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 territory into a humanitarian crisis.
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