Reuters
[Photo Credit: Reuters]
Israeli forces advanced deeper into Gaza City on Thursday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, with U.S. President Donald Trump pursuing a deal to end the Gaza war.
Israeli strikes killed at least 19 people across the Palestinian enclave on Thursday, local health authorities said. They included 11 people from two families in Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip, where planes hit a residential building.
Tanks have entered Gaza City as part of an offensive that Israel says is intended to eliminate Hamas following its deadly attack on Israel in October 2023 but which has caused extensive destruction, a humanitarian catastrophe and widespread hunger.
Netanyahu says Gaza City is the Palestinian militant group’s last bastion, but hundreds of thousands of civilians remain there, fearing there is nowhere safe for them to go.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday Washington was confident of securing breakthrough on Gaza in coming days after Trump shared a 21-point Middle East peace plan with leaders of Muslim-majority countries in New York.
Trump also promised Arab leaders he would not allow Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Politico reported. Palestinians want the West Bank for an independent Palestinian state, with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu has declared there will never be a Palestinian state although Britain, France, Canada and other nations this week formally recognised Palestinian statehood. Some of Netanyahu’s coalition allies want Israel to annex the West Bank.
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