Israel intensifies Gaza attacks as Trump focuses on post-war plan

The Israeli military has accelerated attacks on Gaza City, as US President Donald Trump prepared to host a White House meeting on post-war plans for war-torn Gaza, The New Arab via AFP reported on August 27th.

Israel’s plans for to invade Gaza City – the biggest city in the Palestinian territory – has been alarming the international community due to how it could worsen the enclave’s humanitarian catastrophe.

Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the UN has declared a famine. With global leaders shifting from unilaterally backing Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, domestic pressure from inside Israel has increased, with protests against the war becoming widespread.

Mediators have circulated a draft ceasefire and hostage release deal which has been accepted by the Palestinian group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack triggered the devastating Gaza war.

However, Israel has yet to respond to the ceasefire proposal, but Israeli ministers including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Ben-Gvir are unanimously opposed to any Palestinian appeasement.

The Israeli military has stated that its troops are “operating on the outskirts of Gaza City to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites above and below ground.”

IDF Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that the evacuation of Gaza’s largest city was “inevitable.”

The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced at least once throughout the conflict, and aid groups consider the plan impractical and dangerous.

The UN estimates that almost a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surrounding areas in the north of the territory.

The New Arab via AFP, Maghrebi.org