Israel threatens to intensify assault on Gaza if hostages not returned

Gazans are confined to a 'barely liveable' third of the enclave, the UN has warned

A child's jacket among debris following an Israeli air strike on Gaza city. EPA

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Israel will unleash an even more “intense and significant” offensive on Gaza if progress is not made on the return of its hostages, military chief of staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir has warned.

“If, in the near future, we do not see progress in the return of the hostages – we will expand our operations into an even more intense and significant” way, he said during a tour of the southern city of Rafah on Thursday.

His comments come as attempts are being made to reach another ceasefire deal, after the first one was broken by Israel on March 18. In its renewed bombardment of Gaza − which was given the green light by the US − 400 Palestinians were killed on the first day alone.

Sources told The National on Thursday that Hamas and Israeli negotiators are engaged in talks in Cairo over a truce.

The proposals, the sources said, were presented by Egyptian and Qatari mediators and entail a ceasefire that would last for five to seven years and the release of the remaining 59 hostages in Hamas captivity, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian detainees in Israel. According to Israel, about 35 of the hostages are dead.

Proposals also include an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, in return for Hamas agreeing to lay down its arms, though not surrendering them.

The Israeli warning of expanding its assault comes weeks before US President Donald Trump visits the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

On Friday, the UN said that around 500,000 people have been newly displaced in Gaza in the past month. Israel had issued several displacement orders, giving them less than a third of Gaza's area to live in, the UN said.

“That remaining space is fragmented, unsafe, and barely liveable,” said the UN.

On Thursday, Gaza's Health Ministry reported that 37 hospitals have gone out of service in the past 24 hours.

An unknown number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes still lie beneath rubble, with rescue services unable to retrieve their remains. Israel has been accused of continuing to target emergency workers and their equipment.

The latest attack came on Tuesday when a wave of air strikes hit a municipality garage in northern Gaza, destroying bulldozers and other civil machinery essential to rescue operations and public services.

Among the machinery reduced to twisted metal were nine bulldozers, a sewerage lorry, a water tanker, five service vehicles, two "[Caterpillar] 936-type bulldozers”, two tractors, a waste compactor, a fuel distribution lorry and a mobile power generator, said Saadi Al Dabbour, director of public relations for Jabalia Al Nazla municipality.

He called the Israeli strikes a “deliberate” attempt to make Gaza uninhabitable.