Smoke rises after a large fire broke out following Israeli army strikes on an apartment building in Gaza City. The attacks caused heavy damage to surrounding homes and businesses.

In Gaza City on Sunday morning, there was only one topic of conversation: the possibility of peace. In the half-ruined town, as across the entire territory, few took their eyes off their phones, a television or better-informed relatives or friends for more than a few minutes.

Um Fadi Ma’rouf, from the now destroyed town of Beit Lahiya in the far north of Gaza, said she was encouraged by the positive response from Hamas to the most recent US-sponsored proposal of terms for a deal.

“I think this means it will happen. I really hope it goes through because this situation has exhausted us,” said the 50-year-old, who has been forced to move nine times during the conflict.

Israel has so far rejected Hamas’s demands for changes to a 14-point draft agreement circulated last week but on Sunday despatched a negotiating team to Qatar for indirect talks. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is scheduled to meet Donald Trump, who is thought to hope to announce a ceasefire himself, in Washington on Monday evening local time.

In Gaza City, the mood was tense and subdued. In the early morning, barefoot children with torn clothes and dirty faces walked the cracked streets carrying pots in search of food or scavenged for rubbish that could be used as fuel. Later, many of those living in stifling tents headed to the coast in search of respite from soaring temperatures.

“From time to time, we hear airstrikes, but they are very far away and barely audible,” one Gaza City resident told the Guardian. “We haven’t seen any planes but a warship came very close to the shore but caused no trouble. It didn’t open fire.”

There have been two previous ceasefires in Gaza, one in November 2023, and a second this year which came into effect in January but collapsed in March when Israel reneged on a promise to move to a second phase that might have led to a definitive end to the conflict. A new Israeli offensive followed and an 11-week total blockade that led to almost the entire population facing the threat of famine.

The near 21-month war was triggered by a Hamas raid into Israel in October 2023 in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, of whom more than half are thought to be dead.

The ensuing Israeli offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population multiple times and killed more than 57,000, mostly civilians.

Ma’rouf said: “During the last truce, I never expected the war to return. When it did, it was a tragic feeling – indescribable. I lost my sister in this war, along with around 20 other members of my extended family. My greatest fear is losing someone else from my family – one of my children, my siblings, or close relatives.”

Nineteen-year-old Shahd Ashour, whose sister’s fiance was killed just before the last ceasefire was announced, said she too was remaining cautious.

“My biggest fear now is that the news of the ceasefire turns out to be false – just rumours – and the war and killings continue. I still have hope, but only a little,” she said.

Many children share such fears. Lama al-Mubayyed, 12, said she was scared of being “torn apart, killed, paralysed or losing a limb”.

“I was so happy during the last ceasefire. We felt a bit safe. But when the war returned, I cried a lot because it meant going back to the suffering of tents, the summer heat, and repeated displacement,” Lama said.

Aid officials in Gaza said on Saturday that supplies of fuel, essential to run the generators that are the primary source of power in the territory, are close to being exhausted. Without fresh deliveries, they said, humanitarian operations would collapse, the few remaining hospitals would be unable to function and communications would be cut off.

“We are hopeful about a ceasefire of course, but we need to know how much aid is going to get in and how fast, and who will be able to distribute it. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered,” one humanitarian official in Deir al-Balah said.

In recent weeks the flow of aid into Gaza has varied, though it has been little more than a fraction of what is needed, UN officials said. Hundreds have died seeking food from looted trucks or a small number of distribution hubs. Prices for the limited basics available in the few markets vary wildly from day to day, though remain far too high for almost all in the territory to afford. On Sunday, a kilo of flour was selling for the equivalent of $10, a kilo of lentils for $12 and a kilo of rice or pasta for $14.

“The greatest hardship we’re facing now – myself and everyone in Gaza – is finding food and water each day,” said Adel Sharaf, 18, who is from Beit Lahia but is living in a tent after his home was destroyed.

Many in Gaza are bracing themselves for bad news. Ahmad, from the al-Shujaiya neighbourhood that has been almost entirely destroyed in repeated Israeli military operations, said he was pessimistic “because everyone was lying”.

“Every week they hear about a possible ceasefire, and then it falls apart. This is always what happens, just like in previous times,” the 35-year-old said.

Abu Adham Abu Amro, 55, said he was afraid to hope because he had already lost 25 family members in the conflict.

“We pray to God that the ceasefire succeeds this time. Our days are full of hardship – struggling to access water and food, dealing with a shortage of resources, and the rise in prices,” Abu Amro, who is from Gaza City, said. “Right now, I have no fears other than the possibility that the ceasefire won’t happen this time.”

The strikes came as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to fly to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at pushing forward ceasefire efforts.

Separately, an Israeli official said the country’s security cabinet had, on Saturday night, approved sending aid into the northern part of Gaza, where civilians are suffering from acute food shortages.

Meanwhile, in Yemen, a spokesperson for the Houthi rebel group announced in a pre-recorded message that the organisation had launched ballistic missiles targeting Ben Gurion airport overnight. The Israeli military said these had been intercepted.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was preparing to fly to Washington for talks at the White House aimed at pushing forward ceasefire efforts (Leo Correa/AP)

US president Donald Trump has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether.

Some 20 people were killed and 25 wounded after Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa Hospital that services the area.

In southern Gaza, 18 Palestinians were killed by strikes in Muwasi, an area on Gaza’s Mediterranean where many displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis told The Associated Press. Five of the dead belonged to the same family, according to the hospital.

The Israeli military made no immediate comment on the individual strikes, but said it had struck 130 targets across the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.

It said the strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they had killed a number of militants in northern Gaza.

The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

US president Donald Trump has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

The strikes occur as efforts to reach a ceasefire deal appeared to gain momentum. Mr Netanyahu’s office said his government would send a negotiating team to Qatar on Sunday to conduct indirect talks, adding that Hamas was seeking “unacceptable” changes to the proposal.

The planned talks in Qatar come ahead of Mr Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to Washington on Monday to meet Mr Trump to discuss the deal. It is unclear if an agreement will be reached ahead of the Israeli prime minister’s White House meeting.

Hamas has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war’s end, while Mr Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the militant group’s destruction.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks as Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by U.S. President Donald Trump.

A day after Trump called to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back”, Israel’s strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s, was travelling to Washington for talks on Iran and Gaza, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter.

Dermer was expected to begin meetings with Trump administration officials on Tuesday, the source in Washington said.

But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of fighting letting up. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday to residents in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing a new wave of displacement.

“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”

“Look at us, we are not just numbers and not just pictures. Every day martyrs like this,” said displaced woman Amani Swalha, standing in the rubble of a Gaza city school hit in a strike. “It is our right to live, and to live with dignity, not like this in humiliation.”

Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.

At least 58 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.

Twenty-two people, including women, children and a local journalist were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront cafe in Gaza City, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said more than 220 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.

The Israeli military said it struck militant targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.

There was no immediate word from Israel on the reported casualties southwest of the Gaza Strip and the beachfront cafe.

The bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas militants operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.

‘MAKE THE DEAL’

Alongside talks on Gaza ceasefire prospects, Dermer also plans to discuss Netanyahu’s possible visit to the White House in coming weeks, according to the source familiar with the matter.

In Israel, Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.

On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up for recovering the hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.

Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.

A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel has agreed to a U.S.-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage deal, and put the onus on Hamas. He told reporters: “Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, speaking in Jerusalem alongside her Israeli counterpart, said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “unbearable.”

“The suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon,” she said, calling for the unconditional release of hostages by Hamas and for Israel to allow the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Israel says it continues to allow aid into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing it. The group denies that accusation and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon against the Gaza population.

The U.S. has proposed a 60-day ceasefire and the release of half the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the remains of other Palestinians. Hamas would release the remaining hostages as part of a deal that guarantees ending the war.

The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza in a surprise attack that led to Israel’s single deadliest day.

Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, displaced almost the whole 2.3 million population and plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis.

More than 80% of the territory is now an Israeli-militarized zone or under displacement orders, according to the U.N.

(Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell. Additional reporting by Alex Cornwell; Editing by William Maclean)

Northern Gaza endured one of its most intense nights of bombardment as Israeli forces escalated strikes following mass evacuation orders

Despite a renewed U.S. push for a ceasefire, violence on the ground continued unabated, with dozens of Palestinian casualties reported

Israeli officials headed to Washington for talks as international concern grew over the deepening humanitarian crisis

One of the heaviest nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks has left northern Gaza reeling, as civilians reported relentless explosions and widespread destruction.

The renewed violence came just hours before senior Israeli officials arrived in Washington for renewed ceasefire negotiations, spurred by a fresh push from former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ceasefire efforts intensify in Washington while Gaza reels from escalating violence. Photo credit: Analogu/GettyImages

Source: Getty Images

Mass evacuation in Gaza as Israeli strikes escalate

On Monday, Israel’s military issued mass evacuation orders for vast swathes of northern Gaza, prompting scenes of panic and chaos. In eastern Zeitoun, Israeli tanks advanced, while airstrikes hit four schools after residents were ordered to leave.

Gaza health authorities confirmed at least 38 fatalities, including 10 in Zeitoun and 13 others southwest of Gaza City. Medics attributed many of the latter deaths to gunfire, while residents also reported a separate airstrike in that area.

“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five from Gaza City. “In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions.”

The Israeli military stated it had targeted militant infrastructure, including command centres in the north, while claiming measures were taken to minimise civilian harm. However, no Israeli response was issued regarding casualties reported southwest of Gaza City.

Israel, U.S. and international pressure

The escalation unfolded just as Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer was scheduled to meet White House officials for discussions on Gaza, Iran, and broader regional diplomacy. The talks followed Trump’s renewed call to “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s security cabinet convened to debate the military’s next steps. Israel’s military chief said the current ground offensive was nearing completion, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted on Sunday at fresh opportunities to recover hostages, 20 of whom are believed to remain alive.

Hamas, Israel at odds over truce conditions

While ceasefire efforts intensified, substantial divisions persisted. Palestinian and Egyptian sources indicated that Qatar and Egypt had increased mediation attempts, but no new date for truce talks was confirmed. A Hamas official stated that progress hinged on Israel agreeing to withdraw from Gaza and end the war. Israel maintains that the war can only end when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed Israel’s commitment to the U.S.-proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage exchange, urging Hamas to accept the terms. “Israel is serious in its will to reach a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza,” Saar said during a briefing in Jerusalem.

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens

Concerns over civilian suffering in Gaza continued to rise. Speaking alongside her Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger warned, “The suffering of civilians is increasingly burdening Israel’s relations with Europe. A ceasefire must be agreed upon.”

She called for Hamas to release hostages unconditionally and urged Israel to ensure a steady flow of humanitarian aid.

Israel claims it has allowed aid into Gaza, accusing Hamas of diverting supplies—a charge the group denies, accusing Israel of using hunger as a tool of war.

Dozens killed in Gaza amid one of the heaviest bombardments since the conflict began. Photo credit: Peeterv/GettyImages

Source: Twitter

Casualties mount as enclave crumbles

The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages. Since then, the Israeli military campaign has left over 56,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza’s health ministry, with most casualties being civilians.

The United Nations reports that more than 80% of Gaza is now under displacement orders or militarised control, leaving the enclave on the brink of collapse.

Fitch downgrades Israel citing war in Gaza

Legit.ng earlier reported that US credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Israel a notch on Monday, warning that its ongoing conflict against Hamas in Gaza could last “well into 2025” and weigh on economic activity.

Fitch lowered Israel’s rating from “A+” to “A”. “The conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts,” Fitch said in a note.

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Source: Legit.ng

The Israeli military said it struck 130 targets across the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, in strikes that targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, according to the AP report.

Netanyahu’s office announced late Saturday that an Israeli negotiating team would travel to Qatar on Sunday for ceasefire talks. But at the same time it said Hamas had requested amendments to the truce proposal that were “unacceptable to Israel.”

The Israeli statement came after Hamas said it was “seriously ready to enter immediately into a round of negotiations” for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Palestinian militant group said in a statement late Friday that it had given a “positive response” to the U.S.-brokered proposal.

Trump said on Friday that there could be a ceasefire deal in the coming week.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, meanwhile, reiterated on Sunday the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes, the AP reported. He spoke in a video address as thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.