Israel pushes deeper into Gaza as Netanyahu warns of losing allies over looming famine. Here's what we know
Israel launched a new devastating ground offensive in Gaza over the weekend just as US President Donald Trump departed the region without sealing a ceasefire and hostage deal.
The Israeli military said its forces moved into northern and southern Gaza over the past day as part of the 'Gideon's Chariots' operation, which Israel warned would take place if Hamas doesn't agree to a new hostage deal on its terms.
The ground operation came after days of heavy airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, which according to health authorities there have wiped out entire families.
Israel says it will allow a 'basic amount of food' into the besieged enclave, a move which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted was due to intense pressure from Israel's allies. Hamas and Israel also began indirect talks in the Qatari capital Doha on Saturday.
Here's what we know about Israel's new offensive and what it means for Gazans.
Israel has for weeks been warning about operation 'Gideon's Chariot' – a reference to a biblical warrior – saying it is aimed at achieving 'all the goals of the war in Gaza,' including defeating Hamas and securing the release of remaining hostages in the territory. The operation was approved by the country's Security Cabinet on May 5, a senior security official told CNN previously, adding that unlike in the past, the military will remain in areas it captures.
On Monday, Netanyahu said that Israel plans to take control of all of Gaza.
The official said earlier in May that the plan would be implemented after Trump's trip to the Middle East to 'provide a window of opportunity' to reach a hostage deal.
The warring parties failed to reach a deal during Trump's visit last week, and Israel pressed on with its operation over the weekend. This began with a series of intense airstrikes last week and was followed by an expanded ground offensive on Sunday.
The Israeli military said Sunday that over the past week, it struck more than 670 'Hamas targets' in a wave of preliminary airstrikes across the enclave.
Health officials in Gaza said on Sunday that the operation killed over 100 people overnight, and shuttered the last functioning hospital in the enclave's north. Entire families were killed while sleeping, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
More than 300 people have been killed and over 1,000 others injured since Thursday, according to a CNN count of health ministry data.
More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war on October 7, 2023, according to the ministry, which added that the majority of the dead are women and children.
On Sunday, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that due to the 'operational need,' Israel will allow a 'basic amount of food' to enter Gaza to prevent famine in the enclave, which Israel says would jeopardize its military operation.
Netanyahu has also hinted that his country could lose the support of its closest allies, including the United States, if it doesn't lift its 11-week blockade on the territory, which has further exacerbated a humanitarian crisis on the ground that aid agencies, including the United Nations, have said could lead to widespread famine.
The UN had warned that Gaza's entire population of over 2.1 million people is facing a risk of famine following 19 months of conflict and mass displacement.
If 'a situation of famine' arose in Gaza, Israel 'simply won't receive international support,' Netanyahu said Monday.
'Even our closest allies in the world – US senators I know personally and who have been staunch, unconditional supporters of Israel for decades – are coming to me and saying: 'We are giving you all the support to achieve victory – weapons, support for your efforts to eliminate Hamas, protection at the UN Security Council – but there's one thing we cannot accept: images of mass starvation… If that happens, we won't be able to support you anymore,'' Netanyahu said in an address posted to Telegram.
'We are approaching a dangerous point we don't want to reach,' he said, adding that the military would find a 'solution to this problem' to achieve its war aims.
Netanyahu's explanations were largely aimed at mollifying his right-wing supporters who adamantly oppose the entry of any humanitarian aid to Gaza, including to civilians.
Asked when aid will start entering into the enclave, Netanyahu's office said on Monday that 'it will happen in the near future.'
A controversial American-backed organization, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), tasked with delivering aid to the territory, welcomed the Israeli announcement about allowing food aid as a 'bridging mechanism' until the group is fully operational.
The foundation is meant to run a new, tightly controlled mechanism for aid deliveries that has been approved by Israel and the US, which both countries say is designed to prevent Hamas from 'stealing' aid. The GHF-run mechanism has come under criticism from top humanitarian officials, who warn that it is insufficient, could endanger civilians and even encourage their forced displacement.
Given that the initial sites would only be in southern and central Gaza, the UN warned, this could be seen to be encouraging Israel's publicly stated goal of forcing 'the entire Gazan population' out of northern Gaza, as Defense Minister Israel Katz put it earlier this month.
Jake Wood, the foundation's executive director, said Israel has also agreed to allow it to establish two sites in northern Gaza, which he believes can be up and running within the first 30 days of its operations.
Wood told CNN that he did not yet know when or how many aid trucks Israel would allow into Gaza and said he believes much of the humanitarian community's opposition to the mechanism is based on misinformation.
The UN's aid chief, Tom Fletcher, said Friday that there's no need for an alternative Gaza aid plan. 'Let's not waste time: We already have a plan,' he said.
In one of the strongest condemnations of Israel's war by a high-ranking UN official, Fletcher said the international community must prevent 'genocide' in the enclave.
'Will you act – decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or will you say instead, 'we did all we could?'' he told the UN Security Council.
Trump visited Gulf Arab states last week, including Qatar, where his negotiating team was engaged in ceasefire and hostage talks.
The president said this month that he wanted an end to the 'brutal war' in Gaza and did not visit Israel during his tour of the region, which he had already twice bypassed this month in reaching bilateral deals with regional militant groups.
On Wednesday, Trump denied that Israel had been sidelined. 'This is good for Israel,' he said. But on Thursday, he said he wanted the US to 'take' Gaza and turn it into a 'freedom zone.'
He also told Fox News on Saturday that he is not frustrated with Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister has got 'a tough situation.' While in the Gulf, Trump also acknowledged that people are starving in Gaza and said the US would have the situation 'taken care of.'
'We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,' he told reporters in UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
On Sunday, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told ABC News that the issue with getting aid into Gaza is primarily logistical.
'It is logistically complicated and the conditions on the ground are dangerous,' he said. 'That said, we do not want to see a humanitarian crisis and we will not allow it to occur on President Trump's watch.'
Israeli Defense Minister Katz said Saturday that the new military operation in Gaza is what pressured Hamas to return to negotiations in Qatar last week. But analysts and officials say it's more likely that the militant group agreed to restart the talks following Trump's Middle East visit.
Senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu confirmed Saturday that 'negotiations without preconditions' had started in Doha, according to Hamas-run al Aqsa TV.
It is unclear how well the discussions are progressing in Doha. Israel on Sunday indicated its openness to ending the war in Gaza if Hamas surrenders, a proposition the group is unlikely to accept as long as Israel continues to insist on Hamas disarming.
Meanwhile, Hamas officials have given conflicting comments about the talks.
Earlier on Sunday, a senior Hamas leader told CNN that the group had agreed to release between seven and nine Israeli hostages in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 300 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
Hours later, another senior Hamas leader, Sami Abu Zuhri, denied and contradicted that proposal, posting a statement on Al-Aqsa TV's Telegram: 'There is no truth to the rumors regarding the movement's agreement to release nine Israeli prisoners in exchange for a two-month ceasefire.'
Zuhri went on to say: 'We are ready to release the prisoners all at once, provided the occupation commits to a cessation of hostilities under international guarantees, and we will not hand over the occupation's prisoners as long as it insists on continuing its aggression against Gaza indefinitely.'
CNN's Jeremy Diamond, Mostafa Salem, Abeer Salman, Eyad Kourdi, Ibrahim Dahman, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Tim Lister, Mick Krever, Euegnia Yosef and Dana Karni contributed reporting. Khader Al-Za'anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, also contributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
11 minutes ago
- New York Times
Live Updates: Tensions Flare Between Protesters and Law Enforcement in L.A.
News Analysis National Guard troops in Los Angeles on Sunday. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has formally asked the Trump administration to remove them. It is the fight President Trump had been waiting for, a showdown with a top political rival in a deep blue state over an issue core to his political agenda. In bypassing the authority of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, to call in the National Guard to quell protests in the Los Angeles area over his administration's efforts to deport more migrants, Mr. Trump is now pushing the boundaries of presidential authority and stoking criticism that he is inflaming the situation for political gain. Local and state authorities had not sought help in dealing with the scattered protests that erupted after an immigration raid on Friday in the garment district. But Mr. Trump and his top aides leaned into the confrontation with California leaders on Sunday, portraying the demonstrations as an existential threat to the country — setting in motion an aggressive federal response that in turn sparked new protests across the city. As more demonstrators took to the streets, the president wrote on social media that Los Angeles was being 'invaded and occupied' by 'violent, insurrectionist mobs,' and directed three of his top cabinet officials to take any actions necessary to 'liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion.' 'Nobody's going to spit on our police officers. Nobody's going to spit on our military,' Mr. Trump told reporters as he headed to Camp David on Sunday, although it was unclear whether any such incidents had occurred. 'That happens, they get hit very hard.' The president declined to say whether he planned to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which allows for the use of federal troops on domestic soil to quell a rebellion. But either way, he added, 'we're going to have troops everywhere.' Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, posted on social media that 'this is a fight to save civilization.' Mr. Trump's decision to deploy at least 2,000 members of the California National Guard is the latest example of his willingness and, at times, an eagerness to shatter norms to pursue his political goals and bypass limits on presidential power. The last president to send in the National Guard for a domestic operation without a request from the state's governor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did so in 1965, to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama. Image President Donald Trump in New Jersey on Sunday. On social media, he, his aides and allies have sought to frame the demonstrations against immigration officials on their own terms. Credit... Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times But aides and allies of the president say the events unfolding in Los Angeles provide an almost perfect distillation of why Mr. Trump was elected in November. 'It could not be clearer,' said Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and ally of the president who noted that Mr. Trump had been focused on immigration enforcement since 2015. 'One side is for enforcing the law and protecting Americans, and the other side is for defending illegals and being on the side of the people who break the law.' Sporadic protests have occurred across the country in recent days as federal agents have descended on Los Angeles and other cities searching workplaces for undocumented immigrants, part of an expanded effort by the administration to ramp up the number of daily deportations. On social media, Mr. Trump, his aides and allies have sought to frame the demonstrations against immigration officials on their own terms. They have shared images and videos of the most violent episodes — focusing particularly on examples of protesters lashing out at federal agents — even as many remained peaceful. Officials also zeroed in on demonstrators waving flags of other countries, including Mexico and El Salvador, as evidence of a foreign invasion. 'Illegal criminal aliens and violent mobs have been committing arson, throwing rocks at vehicles, and attacking federal law enforcement for days,' wrote Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. Mr. Newsom, whom the president refers to as 'Newscum,' has long been a foil for Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly targeted California and its leader as emblematic of failures of the Democratic Party. 'We expected this, we prepared for this,' Mr. Newsom said in a statement to The New York Times. 'This is not surprising — for them to succeed, California must fail, and so they're going to try everything in their tired playbook despite the evidence against them.' Image Law enforcement officers and members of the California National Guard engaged protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. Credit... Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times On Sunday, the governor sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally requesting that Mr. Trump rescind the call-up of the National Guard, saying federal actions were inflaming the situation. He was echoed by other Democratic officials, who said the mounting demonstrations were the result of Mr. Trump's own actions. The president and his aides 'are masters of misinformation and disinformation,' Senator Alex Padilla of California, a Democrat, said in an interview. 'They create a crisis of their own making and come in with all the theatrics and cruelty of immigration enforcement. They should not be surprised in a community like Los Angeles they will be met by demonstrators who are very passionate about standing up for fundamental rights and due process.' Republicans defended Mr. Trump's moves, saying he was rightfully exercising his power to protect public safety. 'The president is extremely concerned about the safety of federal officials in L.A. right now who have been subject to acts of violence and harassment and obstruction,' Representative Kevin Kiley, Republican of California, said in an interview. He added: 'We are in this moment because of a series of reckless decisions by California's political leaders, the aiding and abetting the open-border policies of President Biden.' Trump officials said on Sunday that they were ready to escalate their response even more, if necessary. Tom Homan, the president's border czar, suggested in an interview with NBC News that the administration would arrest anyone, including public officials, who interfered with immigration enforcement activities, which he said would continue in California and across the country. Image Protesters in Pasadena, Calif., on Sunday. Credit... Alex Welsh for The New York Times Mr. Trump appears to be deploying against California a similar playbook that he has used to punish universities, law firms and other institutions and individuals that he views as political adversaries. Last month, he threatened to strip 'large scale' federal funding from California 'maybe permanently' over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. And in recent days, his administration said it would pull roughly $4 billion in federal funding for California's high-speed train, which would further delay a project that has long been plagued by delays and funding shortages. 'Everything he's done to attack California or anybody he fears isn't supportive of him is going to continue to be an obsession of his,' Mr. Padilla said. 'He may think it plays smart for his base, but it's actually been bad for the country.' White House officials said there was a different common denominator that explains Mr. Trump's actions both against institutions like Harvard and immigration protests in Los Angeles. 'For years Democrat-run cities and institutions have failed the American people, by both choice and incompetence,' Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. 'In each instance,' she added, 'the president took necessary action to protect Americans when Democrats refused.'
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
How far would Dems have let the LA riots go if Trump HADN'T sent in the National Guard?
Police in Los Angeles finally began moving to disperse the anti-ICE rioters late Saturday night — after President Donald Trump announced he was sending in the National Guard. Until then, cops were under orders to stand down as the 'mostly peaceful protesters' hurled rocks, bricks and fireworks at federal agents — also torching vehicles and physically blocking ICE enforcement actions. The rioters filmed their own violence, sharing it on social media. Advertisement And it all followed Mayor Karen Bass' incendiary words Friday as she slammed ICE raids taking dozens of illegal migrants into custody. 'We will not stand for this,' Bass declared, insisting ICE's actions 'sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city' and bragging that her office was 'in close coordination' with lefty 'community organizations' — an outright cue for the rioting to begin. By the time police finally got orders to control the chaos, they had to engage in running battles with the mobs in downtown LA and the suburb of Paramount. Advertisement How bad would it have gotten if Trump hadn't announced that 2,000 National Guard troops were on their way? Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced Trump's move as 'purposefully inflammatory' — a clear sign that he wasn't going to intervene and proving that the prez was entirely right to cut the pretty boy out of the chain of command. We'll never know for sure how bad Bass and Newsom would've let things get — but we do know that just months ago they were completely feckless in the face of a natural disaster. Were they going to be more aggressive in fighting fires set by their own political allies? Advertisement It's guaranteed that reinforcements for the rioters were on the way, from the nationwide cadres of leftist goons that flock to every outbreak of 'unrest' these days — the folks who in 2020 burned down much of Minneapolis in the George Floyd riots (after Gov. Tim Walz waited days to send in the Guard) and for months laid nightly siege to the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore. If you don't shut rioting down fast and hard, it keeps growing: Los Angeles learned that lesson in the 1992 Rodney King riots — though Bass and Newsom have either forgotten that fact, or don't care. Here's the thing: A Democratic president waved 10 million illegal migrants into the interior, and the nation responded by electing Trump to send the masses back home, starting with the violent criminals among them as well as those who'd exhausted their legal claims to stay. But plenty of Democratic pols still hold power — and are using it to protect the Biden-Harris 'legacy' against the Trump deportation drive even in these open-and-shut cases. Advertisement From Newark to New York, Chicago to Los Angeles, Democrats are preaching anarchy, pretending that ICE agents have no legal right to arrest people who are here illegally. Elected officials — from Bass to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Boston's Michelle Wu — are calling for 'resistance' to law enforcement. Rallying riots, in other words. Now they're calling Team Trump 'deranged' for moving to shut down the LA rioting. Progressive Democrats think they can still get away with memory-holing any and all evidence that doesn't fit their agenda. All the footage of that masked guy waving a Mexican flag as he motorcycled around a blazing car? You're supposed to just consider it another 'cheap fake.'
USA Today
12 minutes ago
- USA Today
California gov describes Trump's deployment of National Guard as 'the acts of a dictator'
California gov describes Trump's deployment of National Guard as 'the acts of a dictator' By calling in the National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles, Trump is 'inciting and provoking violence,' Newsom says. Show Caption Hide Caption Trump sends National Guard to LA as ICE protests escalate Crowds converged in downtown L.A. after National Guard troops arrived to quell any protests opposing President Trump's immigration policies. California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused President Donald Trump of 'the acts of a dictator' for deploying National Guard troops to quell violent protests in Los Angeles. Newsom posted to socia media a video of Trump saying he would charge state and local officials federally if they interfere with the immigration enforcement that sparked the protests June 6, 7 and 8. Gavin accused Trump of 'inciting and provoking violence,' 'creating mass chaos' and 'militarizing cities.' 'These are the acts of a dictator, not a President,' Newsom said. The two men have long been at odds. Trump said on social media June 7 that federal authorities needed to step in because of the inaction of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom, who Trump has nicknamed. "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Trump said in the post. The two have repeatedly clashed, most recently in late May, when Trump threatened to cut California's federal funding after a transgender high school athlete qualified for the state championship. "Large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently," Trump said at the time, if California fails to follow an executive order he signed Feb. 5 seeking to bar transgender student athletes from playing women's sports. Newsom, a Democrat with presidential aspirations, has also sparred with Trump over tariffs, fighting fires and the management of water and environmental resources, though he has also criticized his own party.
