Latest news with #IsraeliDefenseForces'
DW
4 days ago
- Politics
- DW
Israel army chief warns against full Gaza takeover: reports – DW – 08/06/2025
Israeli media have reported army chief Eyal Zamir expressed concern to PM Netanyahu during talks about expanding the war in Gaza. A decision could come during a cabinet meeting tomorrow. After Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuon Tuesday, reports in Israeli media have indicated Zamir expressed concern over Netanyahu's reported plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip. According to public broadcaster Kan, Zamir warned such move would be like "walking into a trap." Unnamed Israeli officials also told Reuters news agency that Zamir warned pushing into areas of Gaza not already under Israeli control could result in harm to the remaining hostages. After Tuesday's meeting Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the prime minister and Zamir held a three-hour "limited security discussion," during which the army chief presented "the options for continuing the campaign in Gaza." No further details were shared. Netyanyahu has not publicly commented on reports that he is leaning towards a full occupation of Gaza. Such a move would have to be approved by Israel's security cabinet, which is due to meet on Thursday after a meeting slated for Tuesday was postponed. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said that while the head of the IDF has the right to voice his concerns, the military would carry out any decision made by the government. "Once decisions are made by the political echelon, the IDF will execute them with determination and professionalism," Katz posted on X. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he met Netanyahu on Wednesday, and warned that "occupying Gaza is a very bad idea... operationally, morally and economically." Lapid has insisted that the Israeli public does not want a full occupation of Gaza. Much of the Gaza Strip currently lies in ruins after almost two years of war that started after the terrorist attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas and its affiliate groups on Israel's south in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people, with over 250 taken hostage. Much of the Gaza's basic infrastructure has been destroyed, including hospitals, schools and mosques. Netanyahu is under international pressure to secure a ceasefire, and the release of hostages held in Gaza. Hamas and fellow Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad are still holding 50 Israeli hostages, with some 20 of them believed to be still alive. But the latest ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have borne no fruit, and Gazans continues to suffer from lack of food, medicine and other basic necessities. The UN and international aid organizations insist more food aid must be allowed into Gaza. Close to 200 people have died from starvation in the Gaza since the war began, according to Gaza's health ministry. Some 60,000 people have been killed since the fighting began. On Wednesday, the IDF called for evacuations in parts of Gaza City, in the north, and Khan Yunis in the south, where a spokesman said ground troops were preparing to "expand the scope of combat operations." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
DW
02-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
Middle East: Dozens of Palestinians killed at aid site – DW – 06/01/2025
06/01/2025 June 1, 2025 IDF head Zamir orders Gaza operation expansion The Israeli army's Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir has ordered an expansion of the IsraeliDefense Forces' (IDF) operation in the Gaza Strip. IDF head Zamir visited troops in one of the enclave's coastal areas while announcing the move, saying Palestinian militant group Hamas "is losing control" over the Strip. "We are in the midst of a powerful and relentless operation," Zamir was quoted as saying by the DPA news agency. This comes hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the IDF will go ahead with its plans regardless of the negotiations over a potential ceasefire and a hostage deal.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
He lost dozens of family members. Now he wants to leave Gaza behind
Fadi Rafiq Assaf, 35, once a businessman who bought and sold clothes, stood amid the rubble of his past life in Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. His home, his family, his entire world -- gone in an instant during the first months of war between Israel and Hamas. Now, as the future of the territory is debated amid ceasefire negotiations, he says he wishes to leave the strip. 'I want to get out of Gaza by any means,' Assaf told ABC News after returning to the ruins of his family house earlier this month. On Dec. 3, 2023, an Israeli airstrike reduced his five-story home in Beit Lahia to debris, burying 54 members of his family beneath it, he said. Among those killed were his wife, his sons, his parents, his brothers and their wives, his nieces and nephews and his cousins, Assaf said. The deaths coincided with the Israeli Defense Forces' expansion of its campaign in Gaza after the worst terror attack in Israeli history, with strikes targeting Hamas in "every part" of the strip, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that day. Burying his family with his bare hands Only two other of Assaf's family members survived the strike on the house, he said -- his 37-year-old brother, Shadi, and his 16-year-old son, Baraa. But Shadi's survival came at a cruel price: He suffered a spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Assaf has become his caretaker since the injury. He said he has asked for help from his relatives to take care of his teenage son so he can focus on his brother's situation. Details of what's in the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas After the strike on his house, Assaf said he retrieved 24 of those who were killed from beneath the rubble and buried them with his bare hands in a nearby plot of land. The other 30 family members remain entombed under the debris to this day, he said. The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 48,000 people have died and 111,000 injured in Gaza since the start of hostilities, many of them women and children. Israel maintains that it had been targeting Hamas and members of the terror group used civilian structures, like hospitals, as bases. As a result, many targets with civilians were hit including hospitals, apartment buildings and schools, resulting in an outcry from people in the region and members of the international community. With no time, space or safety to process the tragedy, Assaf said he had to travel about 7 km, or a little over 4 miles, to the south on foot, carrying his injured and disabled brother on his back and crossing through military checkpoints and war-torn roads. Once they got to Khan Younis' European Hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, they waited three months for a promised medical transfer abroad, Assaf said. Their hope was crushed when Rafah in the south was taken over by Israeli forces, shutting all crossings. Then, the hospital itself became a death trap with military forces advancing, Assaf said, adding that they became the last people evacuated to another hospital. They eventually went back to the north around mid-February in a car after the IDF opened the roads to the north in the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They currently live in a donated tent in the north, just 300 meters -- around 300 yards -- from the ruins of their former home, knowing that bodies of 30 other family members are still buried underneath. But there are no resources to retrieve the bodies, Assaf said. Visual analysis: Palestinians set up thousands of tents amid return to north Gaza Assaf said he's not sure if the bodies of the family members he buried are still resting at the same place. He showed ABC News the makeshift graves he dug for those he had buried, pointing out that the area was later bulldozed, erasing his family members' final resting places. "Now they have no markers, no existence," he said, staring at the flattened plot of land. 'I want to sleep in peace' Since a ceasefire deal was reached in January, about 650,000 displaced Palestinians had returned to their homes in Gaza City and north of Gaza City, the Hamas-run Gaza Government Media Office told ABC News. The fate of Gaza has been discussed at length, including a proposal from President Donald Trump to remove residents from Gaza and redevelop the land, a proposal that drew widespread backlash, with some calling it ethnic cleansing. Asked about the proposal, Assaf said he would be 'the first person to leave,' adding he would never return. 'I want to treat my brother and live with my son in peace, I want to sleep in peace,' he said. Struggling to put his feelings into words, he said he found himself in pain. 'Fatigue. Loss. Pain. As if the war started today. I have lost myself,' Assaf said. Assaf is not the only one willing to leave Gaza. There are other Gazans who shared with ABC News their interest in pursuing a life outside of the strip, as they have lost everything. Omar Dogmash, a 24-year-old law master's student, said Gaza feels like a 'swamp' to him and he wants to leave. 'I don't just hope to leave Gaza, I really want to get out of this swamp. Gaza is now a swamp that is not suitable for life, for education or even for establishing a simple future of dreams,' Omar told ABC News on Wednesday. He said he is waiting and closely following the news on opening the registration process for immigration to Canada. 'That can help me leave and complete my life and education and career there,' he added. Trump Gaza takeover proposal rejected by Palestinians About 90% of the 2.1 million people who were living in Gaza prior to the war have been displaced, according to the United Nations. While Assaf and Dogmash share a willingness to relocate, many Palestinians interviewed by ABC News have said they yearn to rebuild Gaza for themselves, the only place they say they have or will ever call home. 'The land of Palestine, for the people of Palestine forever, and we will not be able to leave it no matter what happens,' Suad Al-Nairab, an elderly woman based in Gaza City, told ABC News. He lost dozens of family members. Now he wants to leave Gaza behind originally appeared on
