Israel Continues Strikes on Gaza as Trump Claims Bombing Had ‘Temporarily Stopped’
The Gaza Strip has been under relentless Israeli attacks, with dozens killed and designated safe zones targeted, despite US President Donald Trump claiming that Israel had “temporarily stopped the bombing.”
What We Know?
Hamas submitted on Friday its response to Trump’s Gaza plan to end the two-year genocide, agreeing to release all Israeli captives. The group said it is ready to “immediately enter negotiations through mediators to discuss the details” of the exchange.
Trump welcomed the Hamas response, and wrote on his Truth Social site that he believes the Palestinian group is “ready for a lasting PEACE”.
In a major announcement, he also said that “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza” so that the captives could be released.
World leaders also welcomed the group’s response and called on Israel to stop the genocide immediately.
Early on Saturday, Trump also said he appreciated that Israel had “temporarily stopped the bombing” to give a “chance” to the deal to be completed.
Israeli Claims of Reducing Assault
Unconfirmed reports from Israel’s Army Radio also claim Israel has instructed the military to reduce Gaza operations to a “minimum”, following Trump’s order, and only “carry out defensive actions” in Gaza.
“The practical implication: the operation to conquer [Gaza City] has been blocked – and halted for now,” Army Radio’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh, said in a post on X.
Israel Continues to Pound Gaza
However, local sources and residents reported that since Trump’s order to stop the bombing, there has been relentless and indiscriminate Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip.
According to medical sources, Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 70 Palestinians in the past 24 hours.
In the Israeli-designated so-called “safe zones” in southern Gaza, where people are ordered to flee by the Israeli military, the sound of relentless heavy artillery and fighter jets filled the night.
At least 47 of the victims killed in bombardments and air strikes on Saturday were in the famine-struck Gaza City, where the Israeli forces have been pressing an offensive in recent weeks, forcing some one million residents to flee to the overcrowded south amid plans to occupy the city.
Hamas said in a statement that the ongoing attacks on the enclave proved that Israel was continuing its “horrific crimes and massacres” on Palestinians.
According to a statement published by Gaza’s Government Media Office late last night, since dawn on Saturday, Israeli forces have launched over 93 air and artillery strikes across Gaza, hitting densely populated areas filled with civilians and displaced families.