The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave’s largest city.

The military, a day earlier, called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. Although one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat, the strategy to take Gaza City had not yet been finalised.

Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted, but the Israeli government has yet to officially respond to.

The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas militants and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive.

Reuters

An Iranian missile is launched during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, August 20, 2025. Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

DUBAI, Aug 21 (Reuters) – Iran on Thursday launched its first solo military exercises since its June war with Israel, state media reported, seeking to reassert an image of strength after suffering heavy losses.

Navy units of Iran’s regular armed forces fired missiles and drones at open water targets in the Indian Ocean under the “Sustainable Power 1404” drill, state television reported.

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“These drills take place around a month after the Iran-Russia drill under the name Casarex 2025 which took place in Iran’s northern waters (Caspian Sea). The Sustainable Power drills…are in Iran’s southern waters,” state TV said.

Israel attacked Iran in a 12-day air war which the United States briefly joined, pounding key nuclear installations and killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Israel largely destroyed Iran’s air defences during the war and much of its stockpile of ballistic weapons is believed to have been damaged by Israeli strikes.

Since then, the Islamic Republic has said it is ready to counter any future attacks.

“Any new adventure by the enemy will be faced with a strong slap,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to strike Iran again if it revives nuclear facilities including uranium enrichment plants.

Tehran suspended negotiations with Washington aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear ambitions after the Israeli and U.S. airstrikes. Iran denies any intent to develop atomic bombs.

Iran believes the moment for “effective” nuclear talks with the U.S. has not yet arrived , its top diplomat said on Wednesday, though Tehran would not completely cut off cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Reporting by Elwely Elwelly; editing by Michael Georgy and Mark Heinrich

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Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 5 Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, August 21, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Summary Israel calls up 60,000 reservists amid Gaza City offensive plans

Hamas accepts ceasefire proposal; Israel yet to respond

Thousands of Palestinians flee intensified shelling in Gaza City

CAIRO/JERUSALEM Aug 21 (Reuters) – The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave’s largest city.

The military a day earlier called up 60,000 reservists in a sign that the government was pressing ahead with the plan, despite international condemnation. Although one military official said that most reservists would not serve in combat and that the strategy to take Gaza City had not yet been finalised.

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Calling up tens of thousands of reservists is also likely to take weeks, giving time for mediators to attempt to bridge gaps over a new temporary ceasefire proposal that Hamas has accepted , but the Israeli government is yet to officially respond to.

The proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas militants and of 18 bodies. In turn, Israel would release about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages held by militants in Gaza must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive.

In a sign of growing despair at conditions in Gaza, residents staged a rare show of protest against the war on Thursday.

Carrying banners reading “Save Gaza, enough” and “Gaza is dying by the killing, hunger and oppression,” hundreds of people rallied in Gaza City in a march organised by several civil unions.

“This is for a clear message: words are finished, and the time has come for action to stop the military operations, to stop the genocide against our people and to stop the massacres taking place daily,” said Palestinian journalist Tawfik Abu Jarad during the protest.

GAZA CITY SEIZURE

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with some cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss his plan to seize Gaza City, according to Haaretz and other Israeli media, without giving more details.

The plan was approved this month by the security cabinet, which he chairs, even though many of Israel’s closest allies have urged the government to reconsider.

Netanyahu is under pressure from some far-right members of his coalition to reject a temporary ceasefire and instead to continue the war and pursue the annexation of the territory.

In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes as Israeli forces have escalated shelling on the Sabra and Tuffah neighbourhoods. Some families have left for shelters along the coast, while others have moved to central and southern parts of the enclave, according to residents there.

“We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain,” said Rabah Abu Elias, 67, a father of seven.

“In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn’t an easy decision to make,” he told Reuters by phone.

Israeli tanks have been edging closer to densely populated Gaza City over the past ten days. Israeli officials have said evacuation notices would be issued to Palestinians there before the military moves in.

Two more people have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said on Thursday. The new deaths raised the number of Palestinians who have died from such causes to 271, including 112 children, since the war began.

Israel disputes malnutrition and starvation figures posted by the Gaza health ministry.

Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Lili Bayer in Jerusalem. Additional reporting by Ebrahim Hajjaj in Gaza; Editing by Sharon Singleton

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Antonio Guterres Secretary‑General of the United Nations delivers a speech during the opening ceremony for The Ninth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD) at Pacifico Yokohama, near to Tokyo, on August 20, 2025, Yokohama, Japan. Rodrigo Reyes Marin/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

TOKYO, Aug 21 (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.

“It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza,” that was necessary “to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause,” Guterres said in Japan where he is attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

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Israel, which has called up tens of thousands of army reservists, is pressing ahead with its plan to seize Gaza’s biggest urban centre despite international criticism of an operation likely to force the displacement of many more Palestinians. Israel currently holds about 75% of the Gaza Strip.

The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages including children into Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 60,000 Palestinians, according to enclave’s health ministry.

Guterres called for the unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas. He also urged Israel to reverse a decision to expand “illegal” settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Israeli settlement plan, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week and received the final go-ahead from a Defence Ministry planning commission on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the construction would isolate Palestinian communities living in the area and undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.

Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Stephen Coates

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10.53 BST Israel keeps up military pressure on Gaza City ahead of planned offensive Peter Beaumont

Has Israel begun its offensive to conquer Gaza City or is it hype? Following several weeks of threats of a new large-scale offensive, strongly opposed by the majority of the international community, Israeli officials have daily made announcements saying the plan to conquer Gaza City has been “approved”. It has been approved by the IDF, by the security cabinet, by defence minister Israel Katz. Later today, in an event with the Israeli military, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will proffer his “approval”. How many times, one is tempted to ask, does one plan need approving?

As so often in dealing with Israeli officials, and Netanyahu in particular, filtering out what is true, what is lies, and what is calculated misdirection is a complicated business.

While Reuters reported a junior defence spokesman as suggesting that the operation to take Gaza City had begun, quotes from that briefing paint a more complex picture, including a reference to the second phase of Operation Gideon’s Chariots, the Israeli military offensive that began several months ago.

Palestinians rush to escape the area after Israeli warplanes’ bomb strike on the tents where displaced Palestinians live in Deir al Balah, Gaza on August 21, 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

In reality, however, recent military activity in Gaza was depicted as being “preliminary” to any new offensive. For his part, Netanyahu’s office put out an opaque statement saying he had asked for planning timelines for the conquest of Gaza City to be accelerated.

Given the profound divisions within Israeli society, with some 400,000 demonstrating recently in favour of a ceasefire deal and release of the remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza, and continued contacts between mediators and both Israel and Hamas, unpacking the politics of what Netanyahu is up to is complex.

On the one hand, far right members of his coalition have threatened (once again) to walk away in the event of a ceasefire, demanding the conquest of all of Gaza and Jewish settlement of the coastal strip. On the other is the fact that ceasefire talks are continuing.

A Palestinian man holds a child and rushes to escape the area after Israeli warplanes’ bomb strike on the tents where displaced Palestinians live in Deir al Balah, Gaza on August 21, 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Earlier this week Hamas said it had accepted a ceasefire proposal that would see the release of some 10 living hostages in the first phase of the a 60 day pause, while senior Israeli officials (but not an official “delegation”) have met with mediators even as Netanyahu has dragged his feet over giving Israel’s reply, reportedly delaying a cabinet meeting where it would have been discussed.

All of which leaves big questions unanswered . While some Israeli and international analysts have speculated that the current moves on the ground amount to pressure on Hamas to improve any deal that might just be emerging, others – like Ronen Bergman, one of Israel’s most authoritative security analysts – suggest that Netanyahu would like to push on with fighting for years if possible, in order to delay his ongoing legal cases and ensure his continued political survival.

What most agree is that any new major campaign is likely to have serious consequences. For Israelis, including senior figures in the defence establishment, one concern is whether living hostages would survive, an issue motivating the mass demonstrations.

A view of the destroyed camp, which houses displaced Palestinians, after Israeli army targeted the camp as Palestinians gather to inspect the site in Deir Al Balah, Gaza on August 21, 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Others point out that to all intents and purposes the deal Hamas has agreed to is one Israel signalled its agreement for only weeks ago. Any offensive would be seen by the international community for what it is, the most cynical of moves leading to an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe – if that can even be imagined.

Without much military utility, and diplomatically self harming, the suspicion then must be that much of this – for now at least – is deliberately performative, though even veteran Israeli analysts are puzzled to what end. To buy time for Netanyahu to flip flop again about what he sees as the objectives of the war? In the hope that Egyptian pressure on Hamas will provide a deal that can be sold? Or perhaps Netanyahu, like a modern day Macbeth, can no longer see a way forward or a way back, “in blood stepped in so far that should I wade no more returning were as tedious as go o’er.”