Thousands of residents again took flight as Israel issued new orders to evacuate, while its tanks pushed into eastern areas in Gaza City in the north and into Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, residents said.
Local health authorities said strikes had killed at least 20 people, with clusters of houses reported destroyed in Gaza City’s Shejaia and Zeitoun districts, east of Khan Younis and in Rafah. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Ismail, a resident of the Sheikh Radwan suburb of Gaza City, told Reuters that freshly displaced families were setting up tents in the road, after fleeing from areas north and east of the city and finding no other ground available.
“We don’t sleep because of the sounds of explosions from tanks and planes. The occupation is destroying homes east of Gaza, in Jabalia and other places around us,” he said via a text message, asking that his surname be withheld for his security.
Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu, is in Washington this week to meet with officials at the White House, Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.
Dermer would be exploring possibilities of regional diplomatic deals in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last month, as well as ending the Gaza war, according to an Israeli official.
Netanyahu is due to travel to Washington next week and meet Trump on July 7, a US official said. The two leaders are expected to discuss Iran, Gaza, Syria and other regional challenges, an Israeli official in Washington said.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said pressure by Trump on Israel would be key to any breakthrough in stalled ceasefire efforts.
“We call upon the US administration to atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring an end to the war,” he said.
After a six-week ceasefire at the start of this year, talks on extending the truce have been stalled.
–Reuters–
