Hezbollah official among four dead in Israeli strike on Beirut
Attack also killed Hassan Bdeir’s son, Ali Hassan Bdeir, and two others, one of them a woman
Hassan Bdeir, known as ‘Hajj Rabih,’ was ‘a key figure in the party’s structure related to the Palestinian cause and its relations with various factions’
Updated 01 April 2025
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Hassan Bdeir, a key Hezbollah official from Nmairiyeh in southern Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli airstrike carried out without warning on Beirut’s southern suburbs at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
The attack, which struck an upper floor of a nine-story building at the intersection of the Sfeir and Mouawad neighborhoods, also killed the target’s son, Ali Hassan Bdeir, and two others, one of them a woman.
Seven others were wounded, according to the Ministry of Health. The attack caused significant damage to surrounding buildings and dozens of parked cars were damaged by falling debris.
This is the second Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in less than a week since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27, 2024.
Media outlets close to Hezbollah reported that the target was the “deputy head of the Palestinian affairs file within the party.”
According to sources, Hassan Bdeir, known as “Hajj Rabih,” was “a key figure in the party’s structure related to the Palestinian cause and its relations with various factions.”
Al Arabiya reported that Bdeir “had previously coordinated with former Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al-Arouri, who was assassinated by Israel in Beirut’s southern suburbs.”
An Israeli statement claimed that “under the direction of Shin Bet, the Israeli air force carried out a strike in Beirut’s southern suburb, targeting a Hezbollah operative who had recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them in planning a major and imminent attack against Israeli civilians.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee alleged that “Bdeir was a member of Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 and the Quds Force and was planning an imminent attack on Israeli civilians. He was targeted immediately to eliminate this threat.”
No details of the alleged planned attack were provided.
Israel’s Channel 14 reported that “Israeli security services had received information that Bdeir was planning an operation against an Israeli aircraft in Cyprus.”
Residents of the affected street were in shock because the airstrike was the first launched without without prior warning.
During the recent war, Adraee had typically announced target locations with an evacuation warning at least half an hour in advance.
Haitham, a resident of a nearby building, said: “People were asleep when the explosion shook the area. We did not expect an airstrike on the second day of Eid Al-Fitr. Screams erupted among the people and children. We did not know what to do: flee or stay where we were? What is happening? How can we continue living in this area now that it has become a target again?”
A resident in his fifties, who preferred anonymity, expressed his outrage. “People’s lives and livelihoods have become worthless in the absence of any local or international protection against the enemy that exploits everything.” he said.
According to a security source, the strike with two guided missiles “targeted the top floor of the building where Hassan Bdeir and his family live …This led to the complete destruction of two apartments and damage to two additional floors.”
Reuters reported a US State Department spokesperson, who said: “Israel was defending itself from rocket attacks that came from Lebanon.”
The spokesperson said that “hostilities have resumed because terrorists launched rockets into Israel from Lebanon,” and that “Washington supports Israel’s response.”
Lebanese officials swiftly condemned the attack.
President Joseph Aoun said: “It is a serious warning of intentions lurking against Lebanon, especially given its timing, which came after the signing of an agreement in Jeddah to control the Lebanese-Syrian border, under the ... sponsorship of Saudi Arabia. It also came following our visit to Paris and the complete convergence of views we witnessed with President (Emmanuel) Macron.”
Aoun added: “Israel’s persistence in its aggression requires us to make more effort to address Lebanon’s friends in the world, and to rally them in support of our right to full sovereignty over our land and to prevent any violation from the outside or inside infiltrators, who provide an additional pretext for aggression. It also calls for greater internal unity.”
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the airstrike was “a blatant act of aggression against Lebanon and an Israeli attempt to sabotage the ceasefire agreement and derail its implementation — an agreement to which Lebanon has remained firmly committed.”
He urged the countries sponsoring the ceasefire agreement to pressure Israel into “halting its aggression against Lebanon and ending its violations of Lebanese sovereignty, and to withdraw from its occupied territories.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the strike as “a blatant violation of Resolution 1701, which affirms Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a direct breach of the arrangements for the cessation of hostilities.”
After visiting the site of the attack, Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Al-Moussawi held “the international community, the US, and the Western nations” responsible for the strike.
“Nothing justifies the killing of civilians. Even if Israel claims a Hezbollah member was present in a civilian residential area, such an attack is legally indefensible,” he added.
Al-Moussawi urged the Lebanese state to take action beyond issuing statements. “Those who place their faith in diplomacy must demonstrate their ability to assert influence on the international community,” he said.
“The resistance remains committed to the ceasefire agreement. We are not warmongers. Hezbollah will announce, at the appropriate time, whether it intends to change its stance.”
Netanyahu vows to uproot Hamas as ceasefire proposals are discussed
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations
Updated 03 July 2025
AFP
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to eradicate Hamas, even as the Palestinian militant group said it was discussing new proposals from mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli leader had yet to comment on US President Donald Trump’s claim that Israel had backed a plan for a 60-day truce in its offensive against Hamas in the war-ravaged territory.
But a week ahead of talks scheduled with Trump in Washington, he vowed to “destroy” Hamas “down to their very foundation.”
Hamas said it was “conducting national consultations to discuss” the proposals submitted in negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
The civil defense agency said that Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people on Wednesday.
Among the dead was Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, a key clinic in the north of Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
Trump on Tuesday urged Hamas to accept a 60-day ceasefire, saying that Israel had agreed to finalize such a deal.
Hamas said in a statement that it was studying the latest proposals and aiming “to reach an agreement that guarantees ending the aggression, achieving the withdrawal (of Israeli forces from Gaza) and urgently aiding our people in the Gaza Strip.”
Netanyahu vowed however: “We will free all our hostages, and we will eliminate Hamas. It will be no more,” in filmed comments in the city of Ashkelon near Gaza’s northern border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier said that he saw “some positive signs,” amid high pressure to bring home the hostages.
“We are serious in our will to reach a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” he said. “Our goal is to begin proximity talks as soon as possible.”
Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
A Palestinian source familiar with the mediated negotiations told AFP that “there are no fundamental changes in the new proposal” under discussion compared to previous terms presented by the United States.
The source said that the new proposal “includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.”
In southern Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday that hit a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area.
Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes.
AFP footage from the area showed makeshift tents blown apart as Palestinians picked through the wreckage trying to salvage what was left of their belongings.
“They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed. What did they do?” said one resident, Maha Abu Rizq, against a backdrop of destruction.
AFP footage from nearby Khan Yunis city showed infants covered in blood being rushed into Nasser Hospital. One man carrying a child whose face was smeared with blood screamed: “Children, children!“
Among other fatalities, Bassal later reported five people killed by Israeli army fire near an aid distribution site close to the southern city of Rafah and a further death following Israeli fire near an aid site in the center of the territory.
They were the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have hit people trying to receive food.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it “is operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in line with “international law, and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”
It said in a statement that a 19-year-old sergeant in its forces “fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip.”
The military late on Wednesday issued a fresh evacuation warning to residents for three neighborhoods of Gaza City, urging them to flee south to the Mawasi area.
Israeli forces are “operating with extreme intensity in the area and will attack any location being used to launch missiles toward the State of Israel,” Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a message on Telegram.
“The destruction of terrorist organizations will continue and expand into the city center, encompassing all neighborhoods of the city,” Avichay wrote.
The military earlier said that its air force had intercepted two “projectiles” that crossed from northern Gaza into Israeli territory.
Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,012 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
Israeli Likud party ministers urge Netanyahu to annex West Bank
The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament
Updated 03 July 2025
Reuters
Cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party called on Wednesday for Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knesset recesses at the end of the month.
They issued a petition ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting next week with US President Donald Trump, where discussions are expected to center on a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
There was no immediate response from the prime minister’s office. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, long a confidant of Netanyahu, did not sign the petition. He has been in Washington since Monday for talks on Iran and Gaza.
“We ministers and members of Knesset call for applying Israeli sovereignty and law immediately on Judea and Samaria,” they wrote, using the biblical names for the West Bank captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Their petition cited Israel’s recent achievements against both Iran and Iran’s allies and the opportunity afforded by the strategic partnership with the US and support of Trump.
It said the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel demonstrated that the concept of Jewish settlement blocs alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential threat to Israel.
“The task must be completed, the existential threat removed from within, and another massacre in the heart of the country must be prevented,” the petition stated.
Most countries regard Jewish settlements in the West Bank, many of which cut off Palestinian communities from one another, as a violation of international law.
With each advance of Israeli settlements and roads, the West Bank becomes more fractured, further undermining prospects for a contiguous land on which Palestinians could build a sovereign state long envisaged in Middle East peacemaking.
Israel’s pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across the Middle East and beyond.
Syria state media says talk of peace deal with Israel ‘premature’
“Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature,” state TV reported
“It is not possible to talk of the possibility of negotiations over a new agreement”
Updated 02 July 2025
AFP
DAMASCUS: Syrian state media reported Wednesday that statements on signing a peace deal with Israel were “premature,” days after Israel said it was interested in striking a normalization agreement with Damascus.
“Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature,” state TV reported an unidentified official source as saying.
“It is not possible to talk of the possibility of negotiations over a new agreement unless the occupation fully adheres the 1974 disengagement agreement and withdraws from the areas it has penetrated,” it added.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country had an “interest in adding countries, Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests.”
The statement came amid major shifts in the region’s power dynamics, including the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December and the weakening of his ally Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after its latest war with Israel.
Syria’s new Islamist authorities have confirmed they held indirect talks with Israel to reduce tensions.
Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has repeatedly bombed targets inside Syria while Israeli troops have entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the 1974 armistice line on the Golan Heights and carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.
Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has repeatedly said Damascus does not seek conflict with its neighbors, asking the international community to pressure Israel into stopping its attacks.
Syria has said that the goal of ongoing negotiations is the reimplementation of the 1974 armistice between the two countries.
Saar insisted that the Golan Heights, much of which Israel seized in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations, “will remain part of the State of Israel” under any future peace agreement.
Control of the strategic plateau has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war.
Gulf diplomacy with Iran helped limit conflict with Israel, Middle East experts say
Pursuit of pragmatic relations between GCC nations and Tehran prevented fighting from escalating ‘out of hand’
Trump-brokered peace agreement offers ‘opportunities’ for further steps toward regional security, according to academics specializing on the region
Updated 02 July 2025
Jonathan Lessware
LONDON: Improved relations between Arab Gulf countries and Iran helped contain the recent conflict with Israel, Middle East experts said on Wednesday during a discussion about regional developments.
Israel attacked Iran on June 13 with airstrikes targeting its nuclear program and military sites. Iran retaliated during the 12-day conflict by launching salvos of missiles toward Israeli cities.
Many feared the war might escalate, dragging in other countries in the region, especially after the US joined the airstrikes on June 22 by dropping bombs on key Iranian nuclear sites.
While Iran did retaliate against the US by attacking Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar on June 23, President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire two days later, and Iran has refrained from attacking other US targets in the region.
When the war started, Gulf countries condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran and called for deescalation. There has been a shift in the region in recent years away from an adversarial relationship with Iran to one of more pragmatic relations, cemented by a Chinese-brokered agreement between Riyadh and Tehran in March 2023.
“That reintegration of Iran into the Gulf security complex has played a really prominent role in preventing this from getting out of hand,” Simon Mabon, a professor of international politics and director of the SEPAD peace and conflict research center at Lancaster University, said during a discussion about developments in the Middle East this year.
This approach showed Gulf states building a regional security architecture from the inside that is “inclusive,” he added. It is viewed as a more “pragmatic and more sustainable way of building a longer-term form of prosperity,” and the approach speaks to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reforms program and the economic pragmatism of Gulf states, he added during the online event organized by SEPAD and the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Eyad Alrefai, a lecturer in political science at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and a SEPAD fellow, said the efforts to forge new relationships between Gulf countries and Iran meant that the nations had been able to “manage their differences diplomatically,” and this included economic issues.
There had been less Iranian interference in the domestic affairs of GCC countries, and also in the wider Arab region, he added. This included Iran’s decision not to get involved in Syria when President Bashar Assad, an Iranian ally, was removed from power by opposition fighters in December last year.
The West’s position on the Iran-Israel conflict, largely seen to be one of support of Israel, was symptomatic of the fact that those countries continue to adopt a “tactical” outlook toward the region rather than a strategic one, Alrefai said. He urged those countries to engage with the Middle East as a socioeconomic, sustainable project moving forward.
If the truce between Iran and Israel continues to hold, many see the end of the brief war as a potential opportunity for more stability in the region.
Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said there was “a real possibility for an integrated economic and security and political partnership” to emerge. She said a weakened Iran also opens up the chance to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the terms of a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed during a devastating military campaign launched by Israeli authorities in response to the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which 1,200 people were killed and dozens taken hostage.
Khatib said a shift in domestic Israeli politics, with pressure from Trump, could reopen a pathway toward a long-term agreement between Israel and Palestine. This would also lead to further normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries, she added.
“This will in turn encourage the flow of funding to places like Lebanon and Syria for reconstruction, which could only be good news for these countries economically, but also will help with stability,” Khatib said.
“Having a stable region is very much in the interest of countries in the Gulf as well.”
Clive Jones, a professor of regional security and director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University, said Israel had scored a huge win against Iran but ran the risk of failing to convert it into a diplomatic opportunity.
“The challenge for Israel now is how you actually cash in those military gains for diplomatic advantage,” he said.
“I think Israel is actually missing a huge opportunity, for example by not engaging more proactively with the new regime in Syria.”
He said Israel’s reliance on its military superiority would not be enough to secure long-term security.
Why latest Gaza ceasefire proposal may offer a pause — but not a path to peace
As aid remains blocked and famine looms, a fragile US-backed truce faces skepticism from Hamas, Israel, and rights groups
With starvation deepening and no sign of peace, experts warn Israel’s aim is to force Palestinians out of Gaza — by design
Updated 02 July 2025
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: When global attention shifted to the conflict between Israel and Iran, the urgency around ending the war in Gaza appeared to dissipate. But for Palestinian civilians living under fire and the families of hostages still awaiting news, the nightmare remained very much alive.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Israel had accepted the key conditions required for a 60-day ceasefire, although he did not detail the specific terms of the agreement.
He said Qatar and Egypt, which have played significant roles in the negotiations, would present the final proposal to Hamas. Trump urged Hamas to accept the deal, warning that if they reject it, the situation “will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”
Trump’s announcement came ahead of a scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, where Trump indicated he would take a “very firm” stance.
He expressed optimism that a ceasefire agreement could be finalized as soon as next week.
Aid agencies say the blockade has caused acute shortages of food. (AFP)
Despite these statements, the fighting has escalated. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has announced renewed operations in northern Gaza, the aim being the elimination of “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.”
On June 29, Israeli forces ordered mass evacuations from northern Gaza and Jabalia to Sheikh Radwan, warning residents to move south ahead of intensified strikes.
The US-backed proposal to end the conflict, originally presented by US envoy Steve Witkoff on May 31, called for a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages, while venturing into the thorny issue of Hamas disarmament.
But the plan had drawn criticism, with Hamas rejecting the proposal, saying it was “biased in favor of Israel” and failed to address the Palestinian enclave’s dire humanitarian crisis.
Instead, Hamas called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the transfer of authority for the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian-led body.
Israel too had issued several non-negotiable demands, raising doubts about the proposal’s potential to deliver lasting peace — until Trump’s announcement on Wednesday.
Although it has signaled openness to a ceasefire if Hamas releases the remaining hostages, Israel has insisted on the disarmament or exile of the Hamas leadership. Some Israeli ministers have even threatened to resign over any deal that does not secure Hamas’s defeat.
Hamas called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the transfer of authority for the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian-led body. (AFP)
“I don’t see any indication that we’re moving toward a ceasefire,” Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, told Arab News.
“It seems fairly clear that Netanyahu does not want to stop bombing and starving Gaza.
“He and his defense minister, Israel Katz, have said very clearly that they’re not going to allow any humanitarian aid, which is the most urgent priority right now, even more than a ceasefire.”
Since early March 2025, Israel has largely blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. These restrictions have halted the flow of essential supplies — including food, medicine, and fuel — dramatically worsening an already dire situation.
Although Israel resumed limited aid shipments in mid-May, UN agencies and humanitarian groups have widely condemned the effort as inadequate to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.
International rights groups have denounced the aid restrictions as violations of international law, accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and pushing Gaza toward a man-made catastrophe — claims the Israeli government denies.
Aid agencies say the blockade has caused acute shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical supplies, driving the population to the brink of famine.
Despite growing international pressure, Israeli officials insist on retaining control over aid distribution, arguing that the measures are necessary to prevent supplies from falling into the hands of Hamas.
Since October 2023, the Israeli offensive has killed at least 55,700 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities. (AP)
In May, this stance led to the launch of a controversial new mechanism: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. Backed by the US and Israel but rejected by the UN, the GHF has come under fire for failing to meet humanitarian standards and for relying on Israeli military oversight.
The GHF replaces the longstanding UN-led aid system, which Israel claims allowed Hamas to divert supplies — an allegation firmly denied by the UN and most humanitarian organizations.
Operating through four military-controlled distribution hubs in southern Gaza, the GHF forces civilians to travel long distances to collect prepackaged food, water, and hygiene kits — often under the watch of Israeli troops.
Critics, including the UN and major aid groups, say the GHF politicizes aid and enables Israel to weaponize relief by tightly regulating access.
Deadly incidents have occurred near distribution sites, with video footage showing scenes that observers have compared to concentration camps.
One such incident took place on June 15, when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians gathered near an aid center in Rafah. At least eight were killed and dozens wounded, according to witnesses and Gaza health officials.
A tractor protest organised by the Kibbutz Movement and the Hostages Families (AFP)
Survivors described the scene as a trap, with no safe way to evacuate the wounded amid the chaos.
The UN and international rights groups condemned the violence. The Council on American-Islamic Relations labeled the aid centers “human slaughterhouses” due to repeated fatal shootings of civilians seeking food and water.
The international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza since the Israeli military operation began on Oct. 7, 2023, in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Those appeals, however, have largely fallen on deaf ears.
In early June, the US vetoed yet another UN Security Council resolution calling for an unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to the UN, defended the veto, saying the resolution would “undermine diplomatic efforts” to reach a ceasefire. She also criticized the UN for not having designated Hamas a terrorist organization.
The international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza since the Israeli military operation began on Oct. 7, 2023. (AFP)
Hamas is described as such by the US, UK, and EU.
“We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza,” she said.
Still, pressure continues to mount. On June 18, the World Food Programme emphasized the urgent need for another ceasefire to allow safe and consistent delivery of critical food supplies to families in Gaza.
On June 12, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and unrestricted humanitarian access. The resolution, introduced by Spain, Slovenia, and others, was backed by 149 countries and condemned Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war.
A day later, the 10 elected members of the UN Security Council (E10) urged compliance with international law and emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian relief.
“A ceasefire will take a lot of diplomatic effort,” Elgindy said. “But at a minimum, there should be international pressure to force Israel to stop preventing food and medicine from entering Gaza. Even that is not really happening.”
The ceasefire proposal under discussion — supported by the US, Egypt, and Qatar — calls for a phased release of 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies, in exchange for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners.
INNUMBER
• 5,833+ Killed in Gaza since hostilities resumed in March.
• 9 Israeli evacuation orders issued May 22 to June 12 across Gaza.
• 962 Israeli ceasefire violations in six weeks after Jan. 2025 agreement.
(Sources: WHO & Palestine’s representative to the UN)
Hostages would be freed over the first week of the truce, while Hamas would halt hostilities and permit aid to resume through the previously suspended UN-led system.
Israel signed off on the plan in May and is awaiting Hamas’s formal response. But Hamas insists on guarantees of a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the restoration of full aid access.
Hamas also opposes Israel’s demand for the group’s full disarmament and the immediate release of all hostages before any ceasefire takes effect.
Witkoff has condemned Hamas’s conditions as “unacceptable,” urging the group to accept the deal as a basis for proximity talks.
Israel, meanwhile, maintains that any ceasefire must include the dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing entity and the return of all hostages.
It was triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which saw some 1,200 people killed, the majority of them civilians, and around 250 taken hostage, many of them non-Israeli nationals.
Israel’s retaliatory assault has displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s population, decimated infrastructure, and brought the health system to the brink of collapse.
Israeli officials, including Netanyahu and members of his far-right coalition, have openly discussed annexing parts of Gaza. (AFP)
Elgindy described the situation as “the worst humanitarian crisis since this horror began in October 2023.”
“It’s never been worse,” he said. “So, my sense, based on everything that we’re seeing and what the Israelis are saying, is they are moving ahead with their plan to forcibly displace the population through starvation and bombing and destruction.
“They’ve told us that this is their endgame, and we should believe them.”
Indeed, Israel’s strategy appears aimed at concentrating Gaza’s population in a small southern zone while seizing control of roughly 75 percent of the territory. The plan, approved by Israel’s security cabinet and supported by the US, has prompted alarm from human rights groups.
Organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the effort as ethnic cleansing and a possible war crime, citing forced displacement and collective punishment.
With supplies blocked and civilians trapped in an ever-shrinking space, Gaza’s 2.2 million residents face escalating desperation and a vanishing hope of survival.
Israeli officials, including Netanyahu and members of his far-right coalition, have openly discussed annexing parts of Gaza and “conquering” the territory. Some have called for its depopulation, drawing global condemnation and renewed calls to end arms sales and military aid to Israel.
According to Elgindy, Israeli leaders claim to have informal agreements with some countries to accept Palestinians from Gaza — although several regional powers have flatly rejected such plans.
“Jordan and Egypt and Saudi Arabia and others have completely rejected the idea,” he said.
“But of course, since the most powerful nation in the world, the US, is endorsing the idea of expelling the population, the Israelis feel that it’s not only likely, but probable. And where they go is not of concern to Israel.
Since early March 2025, Israel has largely blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. (AFP)
“The only thing that this Israeli leadership cares about is that they leave. And that is why they’re continuing to use starvation as a weapon while targeting aid workers, ambulances, and civilian infrastructure.
“So, all we know is that they want them to leave, but they don’t care where they go or how they go. I think they’re calling it voluntary relocation. But of course, when you bomb and starve the population, nothing is voluntary.
“There are even reports that they’re willing to pay $5,000 per family for a job and a house. They’re willing to spend billions on expelling the population rather than on rebuilding what they’ve destroyed.”
That possibility of forced mass displacement raises urgent questions about the future of international law.
“I think this is a test right now for the international community,” Elgindy said.
“Does international law mean anything at all? And if Israel is allowed to carry out its plan of ethnic cleansing of Gaza after it’s destroyed it, after broadcasting its intentions for many months — if this is allowed to go ahead, then we know for certain that international law is a complete farce and means nothing and will never mean anything going forward.
“It will be impossible to try and revive the idea of a rules-based order after Gaza.”
