The long-anticipated military assault is aimed, the Israelis said, at routing the militants of Hamas, but it deepened the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
After intensified operations over the past week, the military said troops would gradually advance into the city, believing that at least 2,000 Hamas fighters remain there.
A damaged building in Doha, Qatar, last week after an Israeli strike. Arab foreign ministers gathered on Sunday to debate how to respond to Israel’s missile attack.
Israel and Iraq confirmed the release of Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Russian-Israeli graduate student at Princeton who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2023 by the militant group Kataib Hezbollah.
Tents housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City earlier this week. Israel is preparing for a major attack on Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living.
Bezalel Smotrich said Israel should take over most of the territory, partly in response to growing international moves to recognize a Palestinian state.
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