Trump Envoy Renews Pressure on Both Sides in Gaza Conflict as Israel Launches ‘Extensive’ New Air, Ground Operations

President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is reportedly pressuring both sides in the Israeli-Hamas conflict to accept the terms of a new ceasefire proposal with the hopes of tamping down renewed fighting that began Sunday with an “extensive” ground and air campaign in the strip.Anxious to avoid a worsening of the humanitarian problems on ground, according to reporting from Axios, the new proposal being floated via backchannels as opposed to through negotiators in Qatar is similar to previous offers pairing hostage releases with a lengthy ceasefire, but includes language making it clear that the agreement would eventually lead to a wind down of the war entirely.Sources tell Axios that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reacted positively to the proposal but that Hamas has not yet responded. “The talks in Doha in recent days are a facade,” an Israeli official said. “This is not where the real negotiations are taking place at the moment. If Hamas and Israel agree to the principles of the Witkoff proposal, the negotiations will move to Doha to discuss the details.”The proposal comes amid reports that Israel has launched new ground operations and airstrikes at the Gaza Strip aimed at pressuring Hamas to free the dozens of remaining hostages still being held by terrorists in the strip and accelerating peace talks that have bogged down.The Israel Defense Force says its troops have begun broad ground operations — the largest such operation since a ceasefire broke down in March — in several areas of the strip following a week of Israeli Air Force attacks on more than 670 Hamas targets. The IDF says about 100 people have been killed in those airstrikes in the past 24 hours.“Over the past day, IDF troops in the Southern Command, both the standing army and reserves, began a broad ground operation throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip, as part of the start of Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” the military said in a statement.According to Israeli officials, the operation aims to see the IDF conquer Gaza and retain the territory, attack Hamas, prevent the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies, and move Palestinians from Gaza’s north to its south.Israel’s military said troops were “operating against terror infrastructure sites in northern Gaza,” including in areas around hospitals that have been used by Hamas as command centers. Other targets included weapons depots, cells of terror operatives, tunnels and anti-tank launch sites, the army says.So far, the IDF says its troops have killed “dozens of terrorists” and destroyed terrorist infrastructure above and below ground, “and are now holding strategic areas in the Strip.”Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said all public hospitals in the north of the territory were “out of service” after Israeli forces besieged one of those facilities, the Indonesian Hospital.“The Israeli occupation has intensified its siege with heavy fire around the Indonesian hospital and its surroundings, preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies — effectively forcing the hospital out of service,” the ministry said. “All public hospitals in the North Gaza governorate are now out of service.”Israel had said it would wait until the end of President Trump’s visit to the Middle East before launching its offensive, saying it was giving a chance for efforts at a new deal. Mr. Netanyahu’s office said his negotiating team in Qatar was “working to realize every chance for a deal,” including one that would bring an end to fighting in exchange for the release of all remaining 58 hostages, Hamas’ exile from Gaza and the disarmament of the Palestinian territory.The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched early Sunday by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The rebels said they fired two ballistic missiles towards Israel’s main airport near Tel Aviv, whose grounds were struck by a Houthi missile earlier this month.

Trump Envoy Renews Pressure on Both Sides in Gaza Conflict as Israel Launches ‘Extensive’ New Air, Ground Operations

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