Tel Aviv, Israel (AP) – Israeli security cabinets will meet and discuss Thursday evening Expansion possibilities The move of Israeli military operations in Gaza, including the families of hostages who remain prisoners of Hamas despite intense opposition from many Israeli people.
According to a local hospital, the meeting was the day at least 29 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings in southern Gaza.
Nasser Hospital, located in the southern city of Khan Eunice, said the 12 deaths came from people trying to access aid near a distribution site run by private contractors with US and Israeli aid. At least 50 people were injured, and many were injured by gunshots, according to the hospital. Neither the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation nor the Israeli military, which helps secure the group’s site, immediately commented on the strikes or shootings. Israeli military accused Hamas of operating in high-population civilian regions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with top advisors and security officials this week to discuss what his office said was a way to “achieve Israel’s goals further in Gaza” after the collapse of last month’s ceasefire talks.
Israeli officials familiar with the issue said the security cabinet was expected to have a long discussion and approve an expanded military program to conquer all or part of Gaza, which is not under Israeli control. On the condition of anonymity where a formal decision is pending, officials said anything approved will be implemented gradually and in stages with the idea that it will increase pressure on Hamas.
Such a step will spark new international condemnation in Israel as Gaza is surged towards hunger. It also has rallied opposition across Israel, saying hostage families could threaten their loved ones.
Israeli Army Chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir warned that the plan would put hostages in danger, and Israeli media warned that Israeli media would further strain Israeli forces, which had faded during nearly two years of war. The comments appear to have exposed a rift between Netanyahu and his army.
Opposition to the expansion of war
A demonstration was planned across Israel on Thursday evening to protest the expected Cabinet decision.
On Thursday morning, nearly 20 relatives of hostages detained in Gaza departed from southern Israel towards the maritime border with Gaza, where they broadcast messages from the ship’s speakers to Gaza parents.
The family denounced Netanyahu’s plan to expand military operations. Yehuda Cohen, father of Israeli soldier Nimrod Cohen, was holding hostages in Gaza, but Netanyahu said he was extending the war to satisfy the government’s militants and prevent the collapse.
“Netanyahu works only for himself,” he said. He appealed to the international community to pressure Netanyahu to stop the war and save his son.
Israel returns the body of Palestinian activists for burial
Israeli authorities returned the bodies of Palestinian activists who were allegedly killed by Israeli settlers last week. Hunger strike started Protests the authorities’ decision to detain his body. The hunger strike was a rare public call from a Bedouin woman who traditionally lamented her private life.
Witnesses said Auda al-Hatareen was shot dead by radical Israeli settlers during the conflict that was caught up in video last month. Israeli authorities said they would Returns only the body If a family agrees to certain conditions “preventing public disability.” Despite dropping some of their requests, the family said Israel had set a checkpoint and prevented many mourners from attending from outside the village.
The Palestinian light form in this part of the West Bank known as Masafer Yatta is Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Lands” On the violence and life of settlers under Israeli military control.
Al Hatareen, a political activist and English teacher, was a contributor to the film and a close friend of its Palestinian co-director.
Aid organizations condemn Israel’s policy
Two major international aid groups released a report on Thursday denounced Israeli policy in Gaza.
Human Rights Watch called on governments around the world to halt arms transfers to Israel last year in the wake of fatal air strikes at two Palestinian schools.
Human Rights Watch said the investigation found no evidence of military targets at either school. At least 49 people were killed in an airstrike that struck Kadi Jaguars School in Dayalbara on July 27, 2024 and Alzeiton C School in Gaza on September 21, 2024.
A borderless doctor, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF, accused the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of causing “organized killings” rather than handing out assistance.
According to the United Nations, over 850 people have died near the GHF site in the past two months. MSF operates two clinics very close to the GHF site and said it had treated nearly 1,400 people injured near the site between June 7th and July 20th, including 28 people who died on arrival. MSF also treated 41 children shot near the GHF site.
The tissue said it treated about 200 patients who suffered from head injuries, choking, and physical assault injuries from a chaotic scramble at the GHF site, including multiple patients with severely worsened eyes after scattering of head injuries, choking and pepper spray.
GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the contractor says no one is shooting on the site.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and on October 7, 2023, 251 people attacked, sparking the war. They still held 50 hostages, of which around 20 were believed to be alive.
Israeli retaliatory military attacks killed more 61,000 Palestiniansaccording to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Rather than distinguishing between that number of civilians and combatants, the ministry says that about half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts consider the figures the most reliable number of casualties.
Israel challenged the numbers, but does not provide its own. ___
Associated Press writer Joseph Federman contributed from Jerusalem, while Natalie Meltzer contributed from Naharya.
