58 killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza

Israeli strikes killed at least 58 people across Gaza yesterday as residents in the enclave's north reported one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.

A day after US President Donald Trump urged an end to the 20-month-old war, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected at the White House for talks on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.

But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of fighting letting up. The Israeli military yesterday issued evacuation orders to residents in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing a new wave of displacement, reports Reuters.

"Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. "In the news we hear a ceasefire is near, on the ground we see death and we hear explosions."

Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.

At least 58 people were killed in Israeli strikes yesterday, health authorities said, including 10 people killed in Zeitoun and at least 13 killed southwest of Gaza City. Medics said most of the 13 were hit by gunfire, but residents also reported an airstrike.

Twenty people, including women, children and a local journalist were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a beachfront cafe in Gaza City, medics said. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said more than 220 journalists had been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas targets in northern Gaza, including command and control centers, after taking steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.

The bombardment followed new evacuation orders to vast areas in the north, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction. The military ordered people there to head south, saying that it planned to fight Hamas operating in northern Gaza, including in the heart of Gaza City.

A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back", Israel's strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu's, was expected yesterday at the White House for talks on Iran and Gaza, an Israeli official said.

In Israel, Netanyahu's security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.

Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two warring sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.

A Hamas official said that progress depends on Israel changing its position and agreeing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza. Israel says it can end the war only when Hamas is disarmed and dismantled. Hamas refuses to lay down its arms.