FM NEWS NETWORK
Israeli planes and tanks kept bombarding eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, witnesses and medics said on Tuesday, with Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya arrived in Cairo for talks to revive a US-backed ceasefire plan.
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. Militants regrouped and have waged largely guerrilla-style war since then.
It is unclear how long a new Israeli military incursion into the sprawling city in north Gaza, now widely reduced to rubble, could last or how it would differ from the earlier operation.
But 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 of the territory and a hunger crisis spreading among Gaza’s largely homeless population of over two million.
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.
