The Israeli army chief “approved” the new military operations plan for Gaza, the army said in a statement today, with the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas denouncing “aggressive” Israeli raids on Gaza City and calling it a “dangerous escalation” on Israel’s part.

“Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held a discussion today, during which he approved the basic framework of the army’s operational plan in the Gaza Strip,” according to the text, which, however, did not specify the timeline.

Following Benjamin Netanyahu‘s order, the Israeli army is preparing to launch a new phase of military operations in Gaza to free all Israeli hostages and “defeat” Hamas there, according to its stated objectives.

The army plans to take control of Gaza City and neighboring refugee camps, one of the most densely populated areas of the Palestinian enclave.

During discussions today, “the actions taken by the army so far were presented, including the strike on the Zeytun zone that began yesterday, Tuesday,” according to the statement.

The Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City has been the target of multiple aerial bombardments over the past three days, according to testimonies from residents, who also reported shelling in the neighboring Tel al-Hawah neighborhood.

Israeli forces are “launching offensive raids on Gaza City,” the head of the Hamas government’s Gaza press office, Ismail al-Tawabta, told Agence France-Presse today, denouncing a “dangerous escalation” on Israel’s part.

These raids are “mainly in the Zeitoun district and the zone around the southern part of Tel al-Hawah” and are accompanied by heavy shelling, barrages of fire and house demolitions, “operations that intensified this week,” he said. “These attacks represent a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a new reality on the ground through violence, through the scorched earth policy,”
he added.

The Hamas attack, which sparked the war on October 7, 2023, caused the Israeli side to kill 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a French News Agency account based on official figures.

Israeli retaliation in Gaza has caused the deaths of 61,599 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas health ministry, which are considered reliable by the UN.

Negotiations

The Israeli army pounded Gaza City today, with another 123 people killed in the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while Hamas held further talks with Egyptian mediators. The 24-hour death toll is the heaviest in a week.

Israeli jets and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City overnight, residents said, while many homes were destroyed in the Zaytoun and Shejaya neighborhoods. Al-Ahli Hospital said 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a residence in Zeytoun. Mortars also destroyed homes in eastern Khan Younis, in the southern part of the enclave, while in the central part Israeli fire claimed the lives of nine people trying to get humanitarian aid in two separate incidents, according to Palestinian health officials.

Eight more people, including three children, died due to famine and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the enclave’s health ministry said, bringing the total to 235, including 106 children, since the start of the war.

The chief negotiator for the Islamist group Hamas, Khalil al-Haya, held talks today with Egyptian mediators in Cairo that focused on ending the war, delivering aid and “ending the suffering of our people in Gaza,” Hamas official Tahir al-Nono said in a statement.

Egyptian security officials said the talks would also focus on the possibility of a comprehensive ceasefire, under which Hamas would relinquish its rule of Gaza and hand over its weapons.

A Hamas official told Reuters the organization is open to all ideas if Israel withdraws. However, “handing over weapons before the occupation is driven out is impossible,” the official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Reuters.