Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had expanded its operations in Gaza, where residents reported fierce gunfire and shelling days ahead of a planned trip to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The intensified operations came after days of mounting calls for a ceasefire, with President Trump — whom Netanyahu is slated to meet with next week — among those urging Israel to strike a deal to halt the war and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza. Mr. Trump said Tuesday that he hoped a ceasefire agreement would be reached “sometime next week.”
Israel’s campaign to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas has continued unabated, however, with Hamas-ruled Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting that Israeli forces had killed 17 people on Tuesday, with dozens more feared to be trapped under rubble.
Ramadan Abed/REUTERS
In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army said it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.”
Separately, it said Tuesday morning that in recent days it had “expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of terrorists, and dismantling hundreds of terror infrastructure sites both above and below ground.”
Raafat Halles, 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City district, said “airstrikes and shelling have intensified over the past week,” and tanks have been advancing.
“I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
Amer Daloul, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, also reported fiercer clashes between Israeli forces and militants in recent days, telling the AFP he and his family were forced to flee the tent they were living in at dawn on Tuesday, “due to heavy and random gunfire and shelling.”
In the southern city of Rafah, resident Mohammed Abdel Aal, 41, said there were Israeli tanks in most parts of town.
The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said earlier Tuesday that 116 people had been killed across the enclave over the previous 24 hours, raising the total published death toll in Gaza since the war began to 56,647.
Media restrictions in Gaza imposed by Israel and difficulties faced by local reporters in accessing many areas make it impossible to independently verify figures and details provided by authorities in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
A group of 169 aid organizations called on Monday for an end to the new U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid distribution organization known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which they said forced starving civilians to “trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race” for food.
They urged a return to the U.N.-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Hamas.
The GHF has distanced itself from reports of aid seekers being killed near its centers.
Netanyahu announced that he would visit Washington to meet with Mr. Trump and senior U.S. security officials next week, after previously saying Israel’s campaign against Iran had created “opportunities,” including for freeing hostages still held in Gaza.
Israel’s declaration of victory in the recent 12-day war has raised pressure on it to put a similar end to more than 20 months of devastating fighting in Gaza. The war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-orchestrated Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken as hostages back into Gaza. About 20 of those captives are still believed to be alive.
Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told the AFP on Thursday that the group is “ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces,” but he added: “So far, there has been no breakthrough.”