‘Gaza will be destroyed’, says Israel’s defence minister
Israel Katz has issued a threat to Gaza, warning that a “powerful hurricane” will hit the territory and destroy Hamas targets today.
“Today, a powerful hurricane will strike the skies above Gaza City, and the roofs of the towers of terror will shake,” he wrote on X.
“Release the hostages and lay down your weapons – or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated.”
Hamas says it is ready to negotiate as Trump gives ‘last warning’
Hamas has said it is ready to “immediately sit at the negotiating table” following what it described as “some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement”.
Its statement came soon after US President Donald Trump said he had issued his “last warning” to Hamas to accept a deal to release captives in Gaza.
“The Hamas Movement welcomes any initiative that supports efforts to end the aggression against our people, and affirms its readiness to immediately sit at the negotiating table to discuss the release of all prisoners,” the Palestinian group said.
In exchange, it wanted “a clear declaration of the end of the war, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the formation of a committee of independent Palestinians to manage the Gaza Strip, which would begin its duties immediately”.
Earlier, Trump posted on social media: “The Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning.”
Israeli forces destroy more than 50 buildings across Gaza
Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, says Israeli forces have destroyed more than 50 buildings across the Strip since yesterday morning, while another 100 buildings were partially damaged, including high-rises housing thousands of residents.
Basal said Israeli forces are deliberately targeting buildings surrounded by encampments of displaced people, and that more than 200 tents have been destroyed as a result of the bombing of adjacent buildings in the last 24 hours, in what he described as a “systematic” policy aimed at intensifying forced displacement.
He also said Israeli forces are targeting the remaining mosques and stadiums in Gaza City, and said Civil Defence crews received distress calls from citizens trapped under the rubble in the az-Zarqa area of the Tuffah neighbourhood after a building was bombed.
