More casualties as Israel heightens attacks on Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the army was “deepening” its assault in and around Gaza City, as it seeks to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israeli air strikes this week have flattened two high-rises in Gaza City as troops intensified their operations in the area, aiming to conquer […]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the army was “deepening” its assault in and around Gaza City, as it seeks to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israeli air strikes this week have flattened two high-rises in Gaza City as troops intensified their operations in the area, aiming to conquer the Palestinian territory’s largest urban centre.

“We are deepening the manoeuvre on the outskirts of Gaza City and within Gaza City itself,” Netanyuahu told ministers at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a video shared by his office.

Israel has not publicly announced the start of a major offensive to seize Gaza City, which Netanyahu’s cabinet approved last month, but troops have intensified bombings and operations in the area for weeks.

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“We are destroying terrorist infrastructure, we are demolishing identified terror towers,” Netanyahu said.

Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 56 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire during the day, including 19 near an aid distribution centre in the north.

On Saturday, the military said it struck a Gaza City high-rise, saying Hamas was using it “to monitor” Israeli troops and adding that it had taken “measures to mitigate harm to civilians”.

Witnesses identified the building as the Sussi residential tower and said it was destroyed. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz shared a video showing the roughly 15-storey structure collapsing in a cloud of dust and smoke

Hamas condemned the attack and denied using residential or civilian buildings for military purposes.

The Israeli military has said it will target structures being used by Hamas, particularly tall buildings.

A military spokesperson had earlier called on residents to leave for Al-Mawasi, on the Mediterranean coast to the south, where the army said humanitarian aid and medical care would be provided.

“Take this opportunity to move early to the humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already gone there,” spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media.

Israel first declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then, saying they targeted Hamas.

Gaza City residents said they believed it made little difference whether they stayed or fled.

 

Pressure mounts on Israel

Israel has faced mounting domestic and international pressure to end the nearly two-year war.

Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday evening to call for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

In Tel Aviv, protesters unfurled a massive banner saying: “President Trump, save the hostages now!”

At the White House on Friday, Trump said the United States was in talks with Hamas over the captives being held in Gaza.

“We’re in very deep negotiation with Hamas,” he said.

Hamas agreed last month to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire and staggered hostage releases, but Israel has demanded the militant group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.

The new head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, wrapped up a visit to Israel on Saturday, his first since taking up post last month, the Israeli military said.

Hamas took 251 hostages during the October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war. The Israeli military says 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.

The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in and around Gaza City, where it declared a famine last month. It has warned of a looming “disaster” if the assault proceeds.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean media outfits are unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

 

UK police arrest hundreds of protesters

More than 400 people were arrested in London on Saturday during a tense protest in support of the Palestine Action group, which has been banned under terror laws, police said.

Several hundred people demonstrated in front of the UK parliament, with some holding placards that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

The capital’s Metropolitan Police force (Met) said in a statement late on Saturday that it had arrested “more than 425 people… in relation to the protest”.

“The majority of these arrests were made for supporting a proscribed organisation,” the force said.

Polly Smith, a 74-year-old retiree, said those at the rally “are not terrorists”, adding: “The ban must be lifted.”

Nigel, a 62-year-old CEO of a recycling company who declined to give his surname, said the government’s ban imposed in July was “totally inappropriate”.

“They should spend more time working on trying to stop genocide, rather than trying to stop protesters,” he told AFP before being arrested as protesters chanted “Shame on you!” at police.

More than 800 people had already been arrested before Saturday’s demonstration, with 138 charged with supporting or encouraging support for a proscribed organisation.

A separate pro-Palestinian demonstration saw several thousand people take to the streets elsewhere in London on Saturday.