Israel has announced a large new offensive in Gaza after launching a wave of air strikes on the territory where more than 100 people were killed, in what said a new attempt was to forcing Hamas hostages.
In a statement late on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that they had launched extensive attacks and had mobilized forces to grab strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening movements of Operation Gideon’s Charots and the expansion of the Gaza war, to achieve all the goals of the Gaza wars’.
The announcement came when Donald Trump ended a visit to the region with stops in Saudi Aarabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel.
Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump acknowledged that people starve in Gaza and claimed that the US would have “cared for” the situation on the territory.
The American president told reporters in Abu Dhabi: “We look at Gaza. And we are going to worry about. Many people starve.”
But discussions about Gaza’s longer term are shaking. On Thursday, Trump described his wish to turn Gaza into a “freedom zone”, a possible repetition of a plan that he brought forward in February for the US to take control of the Palestinian area to make his reconstruction possible as a luxury leisure contracts and business hub.
Late on Friday, NBC reported that the Trump administration was working on a plan to permanently move no less than 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.
The US was considering releasing billions of dollars in frozen Libyan funds in exchange for resetting the Palestinians, according to the report. The US Department of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comments.
Under the conventions of Geneva and the statute of Rome, the random and permanent forced transfer of population is a war crime.
There was a widespread hope that Trump’s visit to the region could lead to a new break in hostilities or a renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Instead, the raids and bombing has increased the levels of violence higher than a few weeks over the past 72 hours, with the death toll near those in the first days of the renewed offensive of Israel in Gaza after a fragile cease -the fires in March.
The civil defense agency of Gaza said that strikes killed 108 people on Friday, mainly women and children, and some officials in the Palestinian area brought the number killed by Israeli attacks in recent days to 250 or 300.
At least 48 bodies were taken to the Indonesian hospital in the north of Gaza and 16 to Nasser Hospital after strikes on the edge of the central city Deir Al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younnis, said health officials.
In Jabaliya, a neighborhood in the north of Gaza who saw heavy bombing for weeks, women were crying next to 10 bodies draped in white sheets that stood on the ground in the midst of rubble.
Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, said she was awakened by an attack before the dawn in North Gaza.
“At that time we suddenly slept everything around us exploded … Everyone started running … There was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses,” she said.
Israel’s army said his Air Force had struck more than 150 “Terror” goals About Gaza.
Hamas still owns 57 of around 250 hostages seized in the October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the death of around 1200 people, mainly citizens.
Israel says that the blockade and intensified bombing has been intended since mid -March to put pressure on the militant organization to secure the release of the hostages. More than half are supposed to be alive.
According to the Health Minister, the retaliation work of Israel killed around 53,000 people in Gaza, most of them citizens.
A ceasefire that came into force in January broke off in mid-March after Israel refused to move to a planned second phase that could have led to a definitive end of the war.
Some of the heaviest Israeli strikes earlier this week were aimed at the current Hamas commander in Gaza, who, said Israeli officials, shelter in tunnel systems under a large hospital complex in Khan Younnis. Hamas has denied repeated Israeli accusations that it uses citizens as human shields.
Israel has called tens of thousands of reservists for the new offensive, in which troops are confiscated at the territory and which will lead to a significant move of the population, said Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli ministers have spoken about “conquest” Gaza.
On Monday, Hamas freed Edan Alexander, the last living American citizen who had it, after direct involvement in the Trump government that Israel had left offside.
As part of the concept with Washington with regard to the release of Alexander, Taher al-Nunu, a senior Hamas officer, said that the group “waited and expected that the US government would exert further pressure on Israel” to open the crossings and allow the immediate access to humanitarian aid “.
Israeli officials have consistently denied the tight blockade imposed on the destroyed territory, caused more than 10 weeks ago that hunger has caused and Trump’s comments will be seen as further proof of tensions between Netanyahu and the nearest ally of Israel.
Israel, who claims that Hamas is looking systematically to finance its military and other activities, has proposed a plan to distribute humanitarian aid by a series of hubs in Gaza run by private contractors and protected by Israeli troops.
The US has supported the plan, which has been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially illegal by aid organizations because this could lead to the massively forced transfer of populations.
Marco Rubio, the American State Secretary, acknowledged the criticism on Thursday and said that Washington “was open to an alternative if someone has a better one”.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, supported by the US, set up to manage the scheme, announced on Wednesday that it would start working by the end of the month and that the Israel had asked to lift his blockade to allow the help to reach the territory immediately.
Aid organizations have warned that every delay will cost lives, and that cases of acute malnutrition, especially among young children, are rising.
Polls in Israel show widespread support for a new cease -the fire to secure the release of the hostages, but local media reports have quoted statements from anonymous Israeli and regional officials who play down any chance of a breakthrough.
The most important group of Israel that represents the families of hostages who are still being held in Gaza, said on Friday that Netanyahu missed a “historical opportunity” to be released.
In recent days, violence in the occupied West Bank and new launches of rockets in Israel have been in increasing Houthi militia in Jemen in increasing ears.
Israel hit Jemen’s Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Salif on Friday and continued his campaign to relegate Houthi’s military capacities.
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