At least 11 killed as Israel bombards Gaza City in overnight attacks
The latest round of indirect talks in Qatar ended in deadlock in late July with Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas trading blame over the lack of progress on a US proposal for a 60-day truce and hostage release deal.
Israel has since said it will launch a new offensive and seize control of Gaza City, which it captured shortly after the war's outbreak in October 2023 before pulling out.
Hamas' meetings with Egyptian officials, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, will focus on ways to stop the war, deliver aid, and 'end the suffering of our people in Gaza,' Hamas official Taher al-Nono said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to expand military control over Gaza, expected to be launched in October, has increased a global outcry over the widespread devastation, displacement and hunger afflicting Gaza's 2.2 million people.
It has also stirred criticism in Israel, with the military chief of staff warning it could endanger surviving hostages and prove a death trap for Israeli soldiers. It has also raised fears of further displacement and hardship among the estimated one million Palestinians in the Gaza City region.
Foreign ministers of 24 countries including Britain, Canada, Australia, France and Japan, said on Tuesday the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached 'unimaginable levels' and urged Israel to allow unrestricted aid into the enclave.
Israel denies responsibility for hunger in Gaza, accusing Hamas of stealing aid. It says it has taken steps to increase deliveries, including pausing fighting for parts of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.
Ceasefire
A Palestinian official with knowledge of the mediated ceasefire talks said Hamas was prepared to return to the negotiating table, and the leaders who were visiting Cairo on Tuesday would reaffirm that stance.
'Hamas believes negotiation is the only way to end the war and is open to discuss any ideas that would secure an end to the war,' the official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
However, the gaps between the sides appear to remain wide on key issues, including the extent of any Israeli military withdrawal and demands for Hamas to disarm.
Disarmament conditions
A Hamas official told Reuters on Tuesday the militant group was ready to relinquish Gaza governance on behalf of a non-partisan committee, but it would not relinquish its arms before a Palestinian state is established.
Netanyahu, whose far-right ultranationalist coalition allies want an outright Israeli takeover of all of Gaza, has vowed the war will not end until Hamas is eradicated.
On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry said that 89 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.
Witnesses and medics said Israeli bombardments overnight killed seven people in two houses in Gaza City's Zeitoun suburb and another four in an apartment building in the city center.
In the south of Gaza, five people, including a couple and their child, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a house in the city of Khan Younis and four others by a strike on a tent encampment in nearby coastal Mawasi, medics said.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports of the latest bombardments and that its forces take precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Separately, it said its forces had killed dozens of militants in north Gaza over the past month and destroyed more tunnels used by militants in the area.
More deaths and starvation
Five more people, including two children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said. The new deaths raised the number of deaths from the same causes to 227, including 103 children, since the war started, it added.
Israel disputes the malnutrition fatality figures reported by the health ministry in the enclave, figures that have been confirmed by international humanitarian organizations.
Israel has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to local health officials. The figures have been confirmed by the UN.
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Al Arabiya
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Arab News
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Microsoft launches probe after Israeli mass surveillance claims
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Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Israel's chokehold on US is beginning to loosen
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Israel's excessive violence, war crimes and genocide have seemed to tilt the balance of support in the US Ray Hanania We have long heard those on the far left in the Democratic Party scream and stamp their feet with no impact on American society. They have excoriated Israel's government for its hypocritical discriminatory policies against Christians and Muslims. Meanwhile, the Republicans and evangelical Christian movements have always stood by Israel, giving it a shield against any form of criminal prosecution, even when its victims have been Americans. Conservatives may have winced at Israel's abuses, but they never crossed the line to demand accountability or judgment. Until now. The tipping point came because Americans have begun to experience a weakening economy. Not only has inflation pushed the price of commodities like groceries, cars and clothing to new heights, but the costs of essentials like insurance, healthcare and property taxes have also risen dramatically. Many Americans are now struggling financially. The US also has a record national debt of more than $37 trillion, which is driving inflation and pushing the cost of products to unaffordable new heights. That economic reality is trumping America's love affair with Israel, causing many Americans to ask: 'Why?' One of the strongest voices leading the backlash is a core member of President Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican from Georgia has started to question why America sacrifices so much for Israel. Greene, a staunch, unapologetic champion of Trump, is the face of the new movement that is challenging Israel's dominion over America and directly challenging Israel's political powerbase in the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This group has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on donations to the campaign coffers of hundreds of US politicians in order to ensure their subordination and subservience to Israel's needs and demands. Today's economic reality is trumping America's love affair with Israel, causing many Americans to ask: 'Why?' Ray Hanania Greene is demanding that America stop giving Israel foreign aid. The US sends $4 billion in aid to Israel every year and it has also provided $18 billion in military assistance for Tel Aviv's war on Gaza. She has the audacity to ask why. Why is America giving Israel so much money, which could instead be given to Americans who are suffering financially? She posted on X this week: 'AIPAC is trying to paint my America First message as 'antisemitic' because I don't want to keep sending billions to the secular government of nuclear-armed Israel.' Greene has expanded her call to end all foreign aid — a call to arms that is being embraced by other mainstream MAGA Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie. What is happening is a political revolution being driven by a worsening economy and by Israeli arrogance. In her post this week, Green concluded: 'With $37 TRILLION in debt, I'm unapologetically America ONLY at this point. My loyalty is to the American people and my children's generation. The people I was elected to represent. NOT ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY.' The growing criticism of Israel's policies, combined with the financial pain many Americans are experiencing and the arrogance of foreign lobbyists who believe they can politically suffocate mainstream congressional antagonists, is undermining Israel's grip over the American people. The changes may look small, but with the criticisms gaining momentum, at some point they will become unstoppable. There is an American idiom often used in politics that says, 'give someone enough rope and they will hang themselves.' Israel is today tightening the noose around its own moral profligacy. • Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at X: @RayHanania
