Israeli air strikes pounded parts of Gaza’s biggest city on July 11, Hamas said, after Israel’s military declared an end to its operation in an eastern district that saw Gaza City’s heaviest combat in months.

The upsurge in fighting, bombardment and displacement followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement in late June that “the war in its intense phase is about to end”.

It also came as talks were held in the Gulf emirate of Qatar towards a truce and hostage release deal after more than nine months of war.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamists said troops had pulled back from Gaza City’s eastern district of Shujaiya leaving behind “more than 300 residential units and more than 100 businesses destroyed.”

Witnesses on July 11 said tanks and troops had moved into other Gaza City areas, and clashes between Israeli forces and militants were occurring. Explosions, artillery shelling and gunfire could be heard, they said.

Smoke rose over parts of the city, according to AFP correspondents.

Hamas on July 11 reported 45 air strikes in the Gaza City area, as well as in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Mr. Netanyahu had said the intense phase of the war was nearing its conclusion.

‘Immense destruction’

Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The latest toll included 50 new deaths over the previous 24 hours, it said.

Israel’s military saw Rafah as the last stronghold of Hamas and in January said the militants’ “military framework” in Gaza’s north had been dismantled, after bombardment and fighting devastated the area early in the war.

Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, a goal whose attainability has been questioned by critics both in Israel and abroad.

Israel’s military said on July 10 it had completed its mission in Shujaiya after two weeks that, AFPTV images show, left the area a grey, blasted-out wasteland.

The images showed Palestinians gathered around a destroyed and burned armoured vehicle beneath a blackened building on a street carpeted with rubble.

Standing nearby, Mohammed Nairi said he and other residents returned to “immense destruction that defies description. All the houses were demolished.”

Another displaced resident, a can of food tucked under her arm, said the district “lies in ruins.”

‘Dangerous combat zone’

The Health Ministry said six bodies had been recovered after the pullback of Israeli troops from Shujaiya.

On July 10, the Army dropped leaflets warning “everyone in Gaza City” that the area would “remain a dangerous combat zone”. The leaflets urged residents to flee, and set out designated escape routes from the area where U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said up to 3,50,000 people were staying.

The United Nations said the latest evacuations “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced many times”, and who face “critical levels of need”.

An Israeli government spokesman said the aim was “to put civilians out of harm’s way” as troops battle militants.

Hamas official Hossam Badran, asked about the increased military operations, told AFP that Israel was “hoping that the resistance will relinquish its legitimate demands” in truce negotiations.

But “the continuation of massacres compels us to adhere to our demands”, he said.

An Israeli delegation led by spy chief David Barnea arrived in Qatar for truce talks, said a source with knowledge of the sensitive negotiations.

CIA director William Burns was also expected in the Qatari capital after holding talks in Cairo on July 9.

Mr. Netanyahu separately met U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Middle East, Brett McGurk.

The Israeli Prime Minister “emphasised his commitment” to a proposed truce plan, “as long as Israel’s red lines are preserved”, his office said.

The former headquarters of the U.N. Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, has been a target of the latest operation. An Israeli military statement said troops “located large quantities of weapons in the area of the headquarters,” including explosive drones and rockets.

UNRWA has not had control of the building since October.

March to Jerusalem

Israel’s military said operations are continuing in the Rafah area where “dozens” of militants were killed over the past day.

The military said it responded with air and ground strikes after five projectiles were fired toward Israel from the Rafah area on July 11.

Demonstrations by anti-government protesters demanding new elections and a deal to free the hostages have intensified. Relatives of Israeli hostages are on a four-day march from Tel Aviv to the seat of government in Jerusalem.

“We want all of Israel to come out with us” and “remind Netanyahu that… he needs to sign a deal to bring them back and stop this terrible war,” said Ayala Metzger, daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, 80, who died in captivity..

Since the start of the Gaza war, Israeli forces have also traded regular fire with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, allies of Hamas, sparking fears of a broader regional conflagration.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said that if fighting in Gaza ends “our front will cease fire without any discussion.”

WASHINGTON:

The United States was “cautiously optimistic” about Gaza ceasefire talks, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN on Wednesday, adding that gaps between the two sides could be narrowed.

KEY QUOTES

“We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in a good direction,” Kirby said when asked if a ceasefire deal was close.

“There are still gaps remaining between the two sides. We believe those gaps can be narrowed, and that’s what Brett McGurk and CIA Director Bill Burns are trying to do right now,” he added.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

President Joe Biden in late May detailed a proposal of three phases aimed at achieving a ceasefire, the release of hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and the rebuilding of the coastal enclave.

Burns and U.S. Middle East envoy McGurk are in the Middle East meeting with regional counterparts to discuss a ceasefire deal.

CONTEXT

Hamas has accepted a key part of a U.S. plan, dropping a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the deal must not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives are met. At the outset of the war, he pledged to annihilate Hamas.

Netanyahu told McGurk on Wednesday he was committed to securing a Gaza ceasefire deal provided Israel’s red lines were respected, his office said.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when fighters led by Hamas, which controlled Gaza, attacked southern Israel. They killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

The Gaza health ministry says that since then over 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the coastal enclave, which has displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million population, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that 60 percent of Hamas fighters had been “eliminated or wounded” in the Gaza war since the group’s October 7 attacks.

Gallant reaffirmed in a statement to parliament on the first nine months of the conflict that Israel was “determined” to meet its war goals of eradicating Hamas and bringing all hostages back from Gaza.

The minister praised Israeli soldiers for “performing their work with dedication, sacrifice and success” and said “the achievements are many”.

Israel has launched major new offensives in Gaza City in the north and around Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south, even as it also embarks on contacts with international mediators on conditions for negotiating a truce with Hamas.

“We have eliminated or wounded 60 percent of the Hamas terrorists” and “dismantled” most the Palestinian group’s 24 battalions, Gallant said.

The minister did not give figures for the casualties and the Israeli military said it did not immediately have statistics.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The operatives also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 38,295 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

While many countries expressed solidarity with Israel after the October 7 attacks, the government has also faced a wave of criticism for its military campaign that has devastated Gaza.

Gallant insisted Israel would stick to its aims.

“We have returned half of the hostages and we are determined to return the rest,” he said.

“The security establishment, and myself heading it, are determined to achieve the goals of the war and complete them.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gaza City:

The Israeli army on Wednesday dropped thousand of leaflets on Gaza City urging all residents to leave amid an intensified military offensive on the Palestinian territory’s main city, an AFP journalist said.

The leaflets, addressed to “everyone in Gaza City”, set out routes out of the city to designated safe areas further south and warned the urban area would “remain a dangerous combat zone” as the army hits Hamas targets.

Israel issued a first formal evacuation order for part of the city on June 27, and two more in following days.

In the leaflet drop, the army said residents would be able to take two safe roads “quickly and without inspection from Gaza City to shelters in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Zawiya”.

Following the October 7 Hamas attacks, Israel said in January that it had “dismantled” the group’s “military structure” in the northern city.

Tens of thousands more residents have already fled Gaza City since troops launched the latest offensive in the city’s eastern Shujaiya district and ground battles have since raged.

The two latest orders covered central and western districts where tanks and troops have move in this week.

The army also said its forces had attacked operatives inside Gaza City’s vacated headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.

Strikes have also hit Deir Al-Balah, an area where Palestinians have been urged to move to for safety.

The United Nations on Tuesday expressed alarm at Israel’s evacuation orders, saying they tell Palestinians to go to zones where there is fighting.

The October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The operatives also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 38,243 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures released Tuesday by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinian Territories:

Palestinian sources said at least 29 people were killed Tuesday in a strike on a school being used to shelter displaced people in Gaza, the fourth such incident in four days, with Hamas blaming Israel for the deaths.

Israel’s military told AFP it had carried out a strike in the area and was reviewing the incident. It has acknowledged carrying out three other strikes since Saturday on Gaza schools being used as shelters.

The strike hit the entrance to Al-Awda school in Abasan, said a source at Nasser hospital in the nearby southern city of Khan Yunis, where victims were taken, adding that 29 were killed and dozens wounded.

The Hamas-run government media office accused Israel of carrying out a “terrible massacre” and also gave the death toll as 29, saying the “majority” were women and children.

“We were sitting at the entrance of the school… suddenly and without warning, rockets were fired,” a witness, Mohammed Sukkar, told AFP about Tuesday’s strike.

The Israel military said the air force had used “precise munition” to strike a “terrorist from Hamas’ military wing” near the school.

“The incident is under review,” the military said in a statement.

Officials in the Hamas-run territory said at least 20 people were killed in the earlier attacks on the schools.

Israel said all three of those strikes had targeted militants hiding in the schools.

On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, killing 16 people, according to the health ministry.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 2,000 people were sheltering there at the time.

The following day a strike on the Holy Family school in Gaza City killed four, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.

The Latin Patriarchate, owners of the school, said hundreds of people had packed the grounds at the time.

Another UNRWA-run school in Nuseirat was hit on Monday. A local hospital said several people were taken in for treatment.

Israel said it had targeted “several terrorists” using the school for cover.

Hamas has denied Israeli claims that it uses schools, hospitals and other civilian facilities for military aims.

According to UNRWA, more than 500 people have been killed in schools and

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

United Nations:

UN humanitarians have said 90 per cent of Gazans were displaced, some multiple times, as more evacuations were ordered and poor or no security hampers aid and fuel deliveries.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that the Israeli military instructed on Sunday and Monday tens of thousands of people living in 19 blocs of apartments in Gaza City to evacuate immediately.

On Sunday, some residents were ordered to evacuate to western Gaza City, while the order on Monday included areas that people had fled to a day earlier and instructed them to evacuate to shelters in Deir al Balah, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The two directly affected areas encompass 13 health facilities that were recently functional, including two hospitals, two primary healthcare centres and nine medical points,” OCHA said, adding that 13 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are only partially functional.

The office said that with nine out of every 10 people estimated to be displaced in Gaza, new waves of displacement are mainly affecting people who have already been displaced multiple times, only to find themselves forced to flee again under shelling. They were forced to reset their lives repeatedly without any of their belongings or any prospect of finding safety or reliable access to essential services.

“People, especially children, spend long hours queueing to collect water each day,” OCHA said.

“Access to emergency health care is also a challenge, particularly given limited communications coverage to contact emergency services, high transportation costs to reach hospitals ($26 roundtrip) and the long walking distance of at least 3 km to reach the nearest medical point.”

In northern Gaza, the aid partners especially highlighted the lack of safe shelters for up to 80,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) who were forced to hastily flee from Shuja’iyeh and other parts of eastern Gaza City following evacuation orders in late June. Many were found sleeping amid solid waste and rubble, with no mattresses or enough clothing, and some had sought shelter in partially destroyed UN facilities and residential buildings.

The Israeli military designated these same areas as evacuation zones, forcing many of the same families, including young children and the elderly, to go through successive waves of displacement over the past two weeks, the office said.

OCHA said that insecurity, damaged roads, the breakdown of law and order, and access limitations continue to hamper movement along the main humanitarian cargo route between Kerem Shalom crossing and Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.

“This has resulted in critical shortages of fuel and aid commodities to sustain humanitarian operations, in addition to increasing the risk of spoilage and infestation of stranded supplies (especially food) due to extremely high temperatures,” the office added.

The humanitarians said the Food Security Sector (FSS) reports that the shortages forced partners to provide reduced food rations in central and southern Gaza in June and undermined their ability to keep bakeries and community kitchens running.

According to OCHA, only seven out of the 18 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners remain operational in Gaza, all in Deir al Balah, and six bakeries already working at partial capacity have now been forced to completely cease operations due to the lack of fuel.

The office said that in the absence of cooking gas and a stable flow of food supplies, community kitchens are also struggling to operate, resulting in a reduced number of cooked meals prepared throughout Gaza.

As of the end of June, about 600,000 cooked meals prepared in 190 kitchens were distributed daily to families across the strip, compared to more than 700,000 in the first half of June.

OCHA said it meant that displaced households rely on burning wood and plastic from furniture and waste to cook, exacerbating health risks and environmental hazards.

As for cooking, humanitarian partners said they continue to distribute wheat flour and canned food that enter northern Gaza through the Erez West crossing. No commercial trucks have been entering the area for months.

A joint assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN Satellite Centre estimated that about 57 per cent of Gaza’s cropland and one-third of its greenhouses were damaged.

The FSS reported a near-total lack of protein sources, such as meat and poultry, on the local market, and only a few types of locally produced vegetables are available at unaffordable prices.

The sector reported that continued military operations in Rafah and recent displacement from eastern Khan Younis, where significant agricultural production was concentrated before the war, have resulted in additional damage to greenhouses. It forced more people to leave their farms unattended, further destabilising food systems.

OCHA said that on Friday, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported that its teams at Nasser Medical Complex were “running on emergency medical stocks” and all departments were overwhelmed by patients, far exceeding the available bed capacity.

MSF said the Nasser Medical Complex is the main site on which field hospitals rely to sterilise their equipment, and if the facility is left without electricity, several field hospitals will also cease functioning.

It said the hospital has been unable to bring any medical supplies into Gaza since the end of April, including most recently on Wednesday, when the Israeli authorities denied trucks carrying MSF medical aid entry into the Gaza Strip due to ongoing hostilities.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jerusalem:

The Israeli army said Monday that it had struck “several terrorists” in central Gaza who were allegedly using a school in the Nuseirat area as “cover”.

“A short while ago, based on intelligence and using precise munition, the IAF struck several terrorists who were conducting terrorist activities, using the structures of a school in the area of Nuseirat as cover,” the army said in a statement, referring to the Israeli Air Force.

A source at the Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat told AFP that it had received several wounded people for treatment after an attack against a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Israel’s army said Hamas and Islamic Jihad “systematically violate international law, exploiting civilian structures and population as human shields for terror attacks against the State of Israel”.

On Saturday the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people in Nuseirat.

At the time, the army said its aircraft had targeted “terrorists” operating around the Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat, which is run by UNRWA.

The war in Gaza entered its 10th month on Sunday.

The conflict erupted with Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,193 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tehran:

Iran’s president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday reaffirmed the Islamic republic’s support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

The statement, issued to Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah on the IRNA official news agency, was one of the first foreign policy comments from Pezeshkian since his victory in Friday’s presidential election runoff.

Tehran provides financial and military support to Hezbollah, which was created at the initiative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after arch-foe Israel overran Beirut in 1982 during Lebanon’s civil war.

In a reference to Hezbollah and allied groups, Pezeshkian said: “The support of the resistance is rooted in the fundamental policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He said he was confident the “resistance movement” would stop its arch-foe Israel’s “warmongering and criminal policies” in Gaza, where Israel has for nine months been at war with Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally, Hamas.

Since the war in Gaza began, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire over Lebanon’s border, triggering global alarm about the potential for all-out war as fighting escalates.

Earlier Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran “will not hesitate to support the Lebanese nation” and Israel “must be aware of the consequences of any adventurous action in the region, especially towards Lebanon.”

Reformist Pezeshkian defeated ultraconservative Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator, in the election which was brought forward after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

After the vote, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the election result was a “clear message of demand for change and opposition” from the Iranian people.

On Saturday Nasrallah congratulated Pezeshkian on his election victory and emphasised Tehran’s role as a “strong” supporter of regional “resistance” groups.

The Shiite Muslim movement is a key part of the Axis of Resistance — an alliance of pro-Iran armed movements that oppose Israel and the United States.

The alliance also includes Yemen’s Huthi rebels and fighters in Iraq, as well as Hamas.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beirut, Lebanon:

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement said on Sunday it launched its “largest” air operation, sending explosive drones at a mountaintop Israeli military intelligence base in the annexed Golan Heights.

It is the latest incident among escalating cross-border exchanges of fire that have triggered global alarm.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally, has traded almost daily fire with Israeli forces since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

Announcing “the largest operation” carried out by its aerial forces, Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters sent “multiple, successive squadrons of drones to target the reconnaissance centre” on Mount Hermon.

The Israeli military said an explosive drone “fell in an open area in the Mount Hermon area” but there were “no injuries”.

Attacks as well as rhetoric have escalated in recent weeks, spurring fears of an all-out conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which last went to war in 2006.

The Lebanese movement said the drone attack was part of its “response” to the killing of an operative in a strike Saturday deep into east Lebanon around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the border.

The Mount Hermon attack targeted intelligence systems, “destroying them and starting a major fire”, Hezbollah said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant visited troops on Mount Hermon earlier on Sunday, his office said.

In two additional statements, the military said its air defences “successfully intercepted” several “aerial targets” that crossed from Lebanon after sirens sounded in the Golan Heights area.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it in a move largely unrecognised by the international community.

The Israeli strike on Saturday killed “a key operative in Hezbollah’s Aerial Defence Unit”, the military has said.

Throughout Sunday, Hezbollah announced four more attacks on Israeli military sites across the border with barrages of rockets as well as some guided missiles. Israeli authorities reported four wounded.

Gallant, in a video from Mount Hermon, said that “even if there is a ceasefire” in Gaza, “we will continue fighting and doing everything necessary to bring about the desired result” in the campaign against Hezbollah.

The cross-border violence has killed at least 497 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including 95 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, at least 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the authorities.

Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced from the border areas in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gaza:

The civil defence agency in Hamas-run Gaza said a strike Sunday on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least four people, the second such Israeli attack in two days.

The Israeli military, which has long accused Palestinian operatives of using schools and other civilian infrastructure, confirmed the strike “in the area of the school” in Gaza City.

It said in a statement the school complex was used as a hideout and housed “a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility”.

The civil defence agency said Ihab al-Ghusain, the Hamas government’s deputy labour minister, was among those killed in the strike on the Holy Family school.

The strike came a day after a UN-run school in the central Nuseirat refugee camp was hit, in an attack that the Gaza health ministry said killed 16 people and drew condemnation from the United Nations. Israel said militants were hiding there.

Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli accusations that militants were hiding in civilian infrastructure.

The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the war, now in its 10th month, and many have taken shelter in UN-run schools across the besieged territory.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, expressed outrage at the repeated attacks on its premises.

“Another day. Another month. Another school hit,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on social media platform X.

#Gaza
Another day.
Another month.
Another school hit.

Once again, @UNRWA school hit by the Israeli Forces.
The school, in the Middle Areas, was home to nearly 2,000 internally displaced, dozens of casualties were reported.

Since the war began, nine months ago today:

-…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 7, 2024

UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma told AFP that 190 — or more than half — of the agency’s facilities in Gaza have been hit, “some more than once”, since the war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

“When the war started we closed the schools and they became shelters,” she said.

Up to Thursday, 194 UNRWA workers had been killed, Touma added.

Since then, the UN agency reported separately that another two were killed in an Israeli attack on Saturday.

There have been 450 “incidents” involving UNRWA buildings during the war, Touma said, saying the damage is “unprecedented in the history of the UN”.

“Any hits on UN facilities are shocking and there has been a blatant disregard for international humanitarian law in regard to this conflict,” she added.

The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Hamas also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.

In response, Israel has carried out a military offensive that has killed at least 38,153 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from the territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)