Netanyahu says he will push ahead with Gaza City takeover and renewed
ceasefire talks
[August 22, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SALLY ABOU ALJOUD and MELANIE LIDMAN
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Thursday he will give final approval for the takeover of
Gaza City while also restarting negotiations with Hamas aimed at
returning all the remaining hostages and ending the war on Israel's
terms.
The wide-scale operation in Gaza City could start within days.
Netanyahu’s approval was expected during a meeting with senior security
officials late Thursday, but no decision was announced before midnight
in Jerusalem. Hamas said earlier this week that it had agreed to a
ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators, which — if accepted by Israel —
could forestall the offensive.
The Israeli military has begun calling medical officials and
international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip to encourage them
to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation. The military
plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000
more.
Israeli strikes, meanwhile, killed at least 36 Palestinians Thursday
across Gaza, according to local hospitals. A renewed offensive could
bring even more casualties and displacement to the territory, where the
war has already killed tens of thousands and where experts have warned
of imminent famine.
Many Israelis fear the operation could also doom the remaining 20 or so
living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack
that ignited the war.
Gaza City operation could begin in days
During a visit to the military's Gaza command in southern Israel,
Netanyahu said he would approve the army's plans to retake Gaza City and
had instructed officials “to begin immediate negotiations” for the
release of all hostages "and an end to the war on terms acceptable to
Israel.”
"These two things — defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages — go
hand in hand," he said.
It appeared to mark Israel's first public response to the latest
ceasefire proposal drawn up by Egypt and Qatar. Egyptian and Hamas
officials say it is almost identical to an earlier one that Israel
accepted before the talks stalled last month.
The proposal would include the release of some of the hostages in
exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, a pullback of Israeli
forces and negotiations over a more lasting ceasefire.
Israeli troops have already begun more limited operations in Gaza City's
Zeitoun neighborhood and the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, areas where
they have carried out several previous large-scale raids over the course
of the war, only to see militants later regroup.
The military says it plans to operate in areas where ground troops have
not yet entered and where it says Hamas still has military and governing
capabilities.
So far, there has been little sign of Palestinians fleeing en masse, as
they did when Israel carried out an earlier offensive in Gaza City in
the opening weeks of the war. The military says it controls around 75%
of Gaza, and residents say nowhere in the territory feels safe.
Protests in Israel and Gaza
Hundreds gathered Thursday for a rare protest in Gaza City against the
war and Israel's plans to support the mass relocation of Palestinians to
other countries.
Women and children held placards reading “Save Gaza” and “Stop the war,
stop the savage attack, save us,” against a backdrop of destroyed
buildings as Palestinian music played. Unlike in previous protests,
there were no expressions of opposition to Hamas.
“We want the war on Gaza to stop. We don’t want to migrate. Twenty-two
months … it’s enough. Enough death. Enough destruction,” said Bisan
Ghazal, a woman displaced from Gaza City.
In Israel, protesters marched Thursday night in Tel Aviv holding banners
that read “The people will bring back the hostages” and “How much blood
will be spilled?”
Among the demonstrators was Dudu Dotan, who said Netanyahu is
endangering the remaining hostages by moving forward with the planned
Gaza City offensive. Of the 50 still being held in Gaza, Israel believes
about 20 hostages are still alive.
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Palestinian women check the destruction after Israeli military
strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital,
in Deir al-Balah, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
“This way will not bring the hostages back,” Dotan said. "Every
hostage he brought back, he brought back through deals. And every
time he tried to bring them back with military force, he caused the
hostages to be killed.”
Plans for widening the offensive have also sparked international
outrage, with many of Israel's closest Western allies — but not the
United States — calling on it to end the war.
Dozens killed across Gaza
At least 36 Palestinians were killed Thursday by Israeli fire across
the Gaza Strip, including 14 who were seeking humanitarian aid,
according to local hospitals. The military says it only targets
militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in
densely populated areas.
The Israeli military said it killed several armed militants in the
Morag Corridor, a military zone where people seeking aid have
repeatedly come under fire in recent weeks, according to witnesses
and health officials. Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza had earlier
reported that six people were killed in that area while seeking aid
on Thursday. It was not possible to reconcile the two accounts.
The Media Freedom Coalition, which promotes press freedoms
worldwide, called Thursday for Israel to allow independent foreign
news organizations access to Gaza. Aside from rare guided tours,
Israel has barred international media during the war, in which at
least 184 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been
killed.
“Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the
spotlight on the devastating reality of war,” said a statement
signed by 27 of the coalition's member countries.
Israeli strikes destroy evacuated tent camp
Israeli airstrikes also destroyed a tent camp in Deir al-Balah, the
only city in Gaza that has been relatively unscathed in the war and
where many have sought refuge. Residents said the Israeli military
warned them to flee shortly before the strikes set the camp ablaze,
and there were no reports of casualties.
Families, many with children, could later be seen sifting through
the ashes for the belongings they had managed to take with them
during earlier evacuations.
Mohammad Kahlout, who had been displaced from northern Gaza, said
they were given just five minutes to gather what they could and
evacuate. “We are civilians, not terrorists. What did we do, and
what did our children do, to be displaced again?"
The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that at least 62,192
Palestinians have been killed in the war. Another two people have
died from malnutrition-related causes, bringing the total number of
such deaths to 271, including 112 children, the Health Ministry
said.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by
medical professionals. It does not say whether those killed by
Israeli fire are civilians or combatants, but it says around half
were women and children. The U.N. and many independent experts
consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime
casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.
Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on
Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
abducting 251. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires
or other deals. Hamas says it will only free the rest in exchange
for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
___
Abou Aljoud reported from Beirut, and Lidman reported from
Jerusalem. Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed from
Tokyo.
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