
Israeli gunfire kills least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu says he will allow Palestinians to leave

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CBC
7 hours ago
- CBC
Israeli strikes pound Gaza City ahead of planned ground offensive
At least 123 people have been killed in 24 hours, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says people will be given the opportunity to leave Gaza before a planned ground offensive, but no one is being pushed out.


Toronto Sun
8 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Israeli gunfire kills at least 25 in Gaza as Netanyahu urges 'voluntary migration'
Published Aug 13, 2025 • 5 minute read Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution centre in Gaza City on Aug. 13, 2025. Israeli military said it had approved the framework for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas condemned what it called "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions in Gaza City. The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. Photo by OMAR AL-QATTAA / AFP via Getty Images TEL AVIV — Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Netanyahu wants to realize U.S. President Donald Trump's vision of relocating much of Gaza's population of over 2 million people through what he refers to as 'voluntary migration' — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing. 'Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want,' Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with Israeli TV station i24 to discuss the planned offensive in areas that include Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter. 'We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave.' Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were shot on their way to aid distribution sites or while awaiting convoys entering Gaza. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Efforts to revive ceasefire talks have resumed after apparently breaking down last month. Hamas and Egyptian officials met Wednesday in Cairo, according to Hamas official Taher al-Nounou. Israel has no plans to send its negotiating team to talks in Cairo, Netanyahu's office said. Israel's plans to widen its military offensive against Hamas to parts of Gaza it does not yet control have sparked condemnation at home and abroad, and could be intended to raise pressure on Hamas to reach a ceasefire. The militants still hold 50 hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Israel believes around 20 are still alive. Families fear a new offensive endangers them. When asked by i24 News if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal, Netanyahu responded that he wanted all hostages back, alive and dead. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that Cairo is still trying to advance an earlier proposal for an initial 60-day ceasefire, the release of some hostages and an influx of humanitarian aid before further talks on a lasting truce. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The militant group has refused to disarm. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries condemned Netanyahu's remark to i24 News that he was 'very' attached to the vision of a Greater Israel. He did not elaborate, but supporters of the idea believe that Israel should control not only the occupied West Bank but parts of Arab countries. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Israel and South Sudan are in talks about relocating Palestinians to the war-torn East African nation, The Associated Press reported Tuesday. The office of Israel's deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, said she was arriving in South Sudan for meetings in the first visit there by a senior Israeli government official, but she did not plan to broach the subject of moving Palestinians. South Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs in a statement called reports that it was engaging in discussions with Israel about resettling Palestinians baseless. The AP previously reported that the United States and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for Palestinians uprooted from Gaza. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Among those killed while seeking aid were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area approximately 3 km from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to staff at Nasser hospital. Hashim Shamalah said Israeli troops fired toward them as people tried to get through. Many were shot and fell while fleeing, he said. Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses. The Israeli military said it wasn't aware of any casualties from Israeli fire in that area. GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites Wednesday. The U.S. and Israel support GHF, an American contractor, as an alternative to the United Nations, which they claim allows Hamas to siphon off aid. The UN, which has delivered aid throughout Gaza for decades when conditions allow, denies the allegations. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Aid convoys from other groups travel within 100 meters of GHF sites and draw crowds. An overwhelming majority of violent incidents over the past few weeks have been related to those convoys, the GHF said. Israeli fire killed at least six other people waiting for aid trucks close to the Morag corridor, which separates parts of southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said. Israel says it killed Hamas militant who took hostages The Israeli military said Wednesday that it killed last week a Hamas militant who took part in the 2023 attack that started the war. It blamed Abdullah Saeed Abd al-Baqin for participating in the abduction of three Israeli hostages. The Hamas-led attack abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's air and ground offensive has since displaced most of Gaza's population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The offensive has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. Palestinian fatally shot in West Bank violence An Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli military said dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks toward an off-duty soldier and another person carrying out 'engineering works' near the village of Duma, lightly wounding them. It said the soldier initially fired warning shots, then opened fire in self-defence. The Health Ministry identified the deceased as Thamin Dawabshe, 35, a distant relative of a family targeted in a 2015 firebombing in the village by a settler. That attack killed a toddler and his parents. The attacker was convicted and handed three life sentences. The West Bank has seen a rise in settler violence as well as Palestinian attacks since the start of the war in Gaza, and the Israeli military has carried out major military operations there. Rights groups and Palestinians say the military often turns a blind eye to violent settlers or intervenes to protect them. Read More Editorial Cartoons Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists Columnists Toronto & GTA


Calgary Herald
8 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Israel military says it's approved plan for new Gaza offensive
Article content JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had approved the framework for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas condemned what it called 'aggressive' Israeli ground incursions in Gaza City. Article content The approval for the expanded offensive comes days after Israel's security cabinet called for the seizure of Gaza's largest city, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. Article content Article content Israeli armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir 'approved the main framework for the IDF's operational plan in the Gaza Strip,' a statement released by the army said. Article content Article content Prime Benjamin Minister Netanyahu's government has not provided a precise timetable for when Israeli troops will enter Gaza City, where thousands have taken refuge after fleeing previous offensives. Article content Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza, told AFP on Wednesday that 'the Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions in Gaza City.' Article content 'These assaults represent a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a new reality on the ground by force, through a scorched-earth policy and the complete destruction of civilian property,' he added. Article content Sabah Fatoum, 51, who lives in a tent in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City told AFP by phone that 'the explosions are massive' in the area. Article content Article content There are 'many air strikes and tanks are advancing in the southern area of Tal al-Hawa with drones above our heads,' she said. Article content 'The tanks are still there, and I saw dozens of civilians fleeing' to the west of the city, she added. Article content Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, with the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra hit 'with very heavy air strikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings'. Article content Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Israeli strikes or fire had killed at least 35 people across Gaza on Wednesday. Article content 'Just escaped death' Article content AFP footage from Gaza City on Tuesday showed Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes on the Zeitoun and Asqoola using overladen carts, vans and bikes.