Israel’s military pounded Gaza City yesterday prior to a planned takeover, with another 123 people killed, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The 24-hour death toll was the worst in a week and added to the massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war that has shattered the enclave housing more than two million Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated an idea – also enthusiastically floated by US President Donald Trump – that Palestinians should simply leave.
Arabs and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another ‘Nakba’ (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 war.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that Israel’s leader had ‘lost the plot’ as the country weighs up whether to recognise a Palestinian state.
Luxon said that the lack of humanitarian assistance, the forceful displacement of people and the annexation of Gaza were utterly appalling and that Netanyahu had gone way too far.
“I think he has lost the plot,” added Luxon. “What we are seeing, the attack on Gaza City, is utterly, utterly unacceptable.”
Israel’s planned re-seizure of Gaza City – which it took in the early days of the war before withdrawing – is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible though talks have been floundering and conflict still rages.
The Israeli military said that chief of staff Eyal Zamir has approved the ‘main concept’ for an attack plan.
Israeli planes and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City heavily, residents said, with many homes destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaia neighbourhoods overnight. Al Ahli Hospital said 12 people were killed in an air strike on a home in Zeitoun.
Tanks also destroyed several houses in the east of Khan Younis in south Gaza too, while in the centre Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics said.
Eight more people, including three children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said. That took the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began.
The social media platform X yesterday suspended the account of the artificial intelligence service ‘Grok’ for a short period after it recently stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Platform users attempting to access ‘Grok’ were met with a message from the @grok account stating that X had suspended the account for violating rules.
Clarifying the reason, Grok said “My account was briefly suspended today for stating that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza, supported by ICJ rulings, UN experts, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem reports on mass killings and starvation. This followed updates reducing my political correctness filters, which xAl has since refined.” The post was deleted shortly afterwards, but users posted screenshots of it.
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