Hamas Races for Ceasefire as Israel Intensifies Military Pressure

Israeli air and ground forces pounded eastern Gaza City overnight, killing at least 11 people, according to witnesses and medics, while a senior Hamas delegation travelled to Cairo for new talks on reviving a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan.

Fierce bombardments targeted residential areas, with seven people dying in two houses in Gaza City’s Zeitoun suburb and four others in an apartment building in the city centre.

In the south, strikes killed five people including a couple and their child in Khan Younis, while another four died when a missile hit a tent encampment in Mawasi.

The latest escalation comes after indirect negotiations in Qatar in late July collapsed, with Israel and Hamas trading accusations over the failure to advance a proposed 60-day truce and hostage release deal.

Since then, Israel has signalled it will relaunch a major offensive to seize Gaza City territory it initially captured shortly after the October 2023 war broke out but later abandoned.

Hamas official Taher al-Nono said the Cairo talks, starting Wednesday, would aim to halt the fighting, deliver urgent aid, and “end the suffering of our people in Gaza.”

He emphasised that the group remained open to negotiations, calling them “the only way to end the war.”

The humanitarian toll continues to climb.

Gaza’s health ministry reported 89 Palestinian deaths in the last 24 hours from Israeli fire, alongside five deaths from starvation and malnutrition part of a total of 227 such fatalities since the war began, including 103 children.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand military control over Gaza has drawn both international condemnation and domestic dissent.

The Israeli military chief of staff warned the move could endanger hostages and risk heavy casualties among Israeli soldiers.

Rights groups and aid agencies voiced alarm over further displacement for the one million Palestinians still in Gaza City.

Foreign ministers from 24 nations including Britain, Canada, France, Japan, and Australia issued a joint statement urging Israel to allow “unrestricted” humanitarian aid, calling the crisis “unimaginable.”

Hamas sources revealed the group is prepared to relinquish governing Gaza to a neutral committee but refuses to disarm before the creation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu, under pressure from far-right coalition partners, has vowed the war will continue until Hamas is eradicated.

The conflict erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in southern Israel.

Since then, Israeli operations have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

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