Israel orders evacuations in north Gaza as Trump urges end to war
\n Gaza
\nIsraeli air strikes killed two people in Gaza City\u2019s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Sunday, bringing the total death toll from attacks across the enclave to at least 17, according to medical sources.
\nA separate strike in the Daraj neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City left one woman injured, health officials told reporters.
\nYesterday, Israeli attacks killed 37 people in Gaza, including at least nine children.
\nSpokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 35 people died in seven drone and air strikes across the enclave, while two others were shot dead in the Netzarim corridor while waiting for food aid. Three children were killed in a strike on a home in Jabalia, and at least six more died in northeast Gaza City near a school sheltering displaced families.
\nIsrael orders evacuations in north Gaza as Trump urges end to war
\nThe Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.
\n\u201cMake the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,\u201d Trump posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday.
\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks later in the day on the progress of Israel\u2019s offensive. A senior security official said the military will tell him the campaign is close to reaching its objectives, and warn that expanding fighting to new areas in Gaza may endanger the remaining Israeli hostages.
\nBut in a statement posted on X and text messages sent to many residents, the military urged people in northern parts of the enclave to head south towards the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which Israel designated as a humanitarian area. Palestinian and UN officials say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
\n\u201cThe (Israeli) Defense Forces is operating with extreme force in these areas, and these military operations will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city center to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations,\u201d the military said.
\nThe evacuation order covered the Jabalia area and most Gaza City districts. Medics and residents said the Israeli army\u2019s bombardments escalated in the early hours in Jabalia, destroying several houses and killing at least six people.
\nIn Khan Younis in the south, five people were killed in an airstrike on a tent encampment near Mawasi, medics said.
\nThe escalation comes as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, begin a new ceasefire effort to halt the 20-month-old conflict and secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages still being held by Hamas.
\nInterest in resolving the Gaza conflict has heightened in the wake of US and Israeli bombings of Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.
\nA Hamas official told Reuters the group had informed the mediators it was ready to resume ceasefire talks, but reaffirmed the group\u2019s outstanding demands that any deal must end the war and secure an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal territory.
\nHamas has said it is willing to free remaining hostages in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, only in a deal that will end the war. Israel says it can only end it if Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.
\nFrontman Liam O\u2019Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, was charged with a terrorism offense last month, for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November.
\nA map was included marking affected zones in northern Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel orders evacuations in north Gaza as Trump urges end to war Gaza Israeli air strikes killed two people in Gaza City\u2019s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Sunday, bringing the total death toll from attacks across the enclave to at least 17, according to medical sources. A separate strike in the Daraj neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n