Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Israeli forces sent troops to Gaza for a “massive ground operation” on Sunday after the air blew the enclave for the fifth day and killed nearly 100 Palestinians overnight.
Deployment of the Force – The first stage of a potentially far greater invasion of the besieged enclave came despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to continue engaged in negotiations to end the war with Hamas.
The Israeli forces did not say how many troops were deployed within Gaza, but described them as “a wide-ranging ground operation across the north and south Gaza Strip” as part of what they called “Operation Gideon Tanks.” The Air Force has recently launched 670 strikes. This is a tempo that coincides with the early weeks of the 19-month war with Hamas.
The new attack, which began Tuesday with the attempted assassination of the Gaza chief in Hamas, was permitted by Netanyahu’s far-right security cabinet to capture the majority of the enclave and push 2.1MN civilians into about a tenth of the territory near the Egyptian border.
However, Netanyahu also threw up military operations as part of a new tactic of “negotiations under the fire.” This threatens Hamas with permanent loss of territory, except that extremist groups succumb to pressure by releasing Israeli hostages without a permanent ceasefire.
“Even at this point, the Doha negotiation team is working to exhaust every opportunity to trade. [a US] Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Sunday morning.
Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians this week since launching Gideon’s tank operations, local health officials said. By noon on Sunday, 96 bodies had been taken to one of the few functional hospitals in Gaza, according to a preliminary number from the Ministry of Health.
They also blocked food, medicines and freshwater from entering Gaza for more than two and a half months. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are already hungry, a UN panel said earlier this week.
Israel has yet to confirm whether the strike at the European hospital on Tuesday killed the intended target Mohammad Singhwar. Mohamad Singhwar took over the reins of the extremist group after Israel killed his brother Yahyasinghwar, a longtime Hamas leader who coordinated the cross-border raid on October 7th.
However, two Saudi media outlets on Sunday reported that Singwar was killed on the strike. Israeli Defense Minister Katz similarly described local officials, Israeli media reported. According to a death notice shared in Gaza, Singwar’s other brothers were also killed overnight in a local university professor.
Israel strengthened the air earlier this week as President Donald Trump concluded his Gulf tour.
Israeli officials have previously called his trip a “window of opportunity” that mediated the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners accepted by Netanyahu and his far-right allies. At the event, Trump negotiated the release of a single Israeli soldier, who is also an American citizen.
An estimated 20 hostages and more than 38 more remains are still held by Hamas.
More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.
Israeli officials say that the attack across Hamas border on October 7, 2023 killed at least 1,200 people and took 250 hostages in Israel.
