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Here’s What’s Happening in Gaza Right Now
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive, shelter in tents, in Gaza City May 11, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Negotiations have continued to end the Gaza war, with no result. Hamas is still refusing to relinquish its hold on Gaza and demanding that a ceasefire include its continued governance, the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the rebuilding of Gaza at the expense of the international community.
Israel is demanding the return of all the remaining hostages, the removal of Hamas from Gaza, and the complete demilitarization of the area. The Israelis offered a partial agreement that Hamas refused. In a gesture to President Trump, Hamas released a hostage who has dual American and Israeli citizenship.
On Monday, after several weeks of gradually taking more ground and intensifying aerial operations against Hamas and other terrorist personnel, Israel declared the beginning of a new escalated ground operation. Five divisions are now simultaneously attacking different localities in Gaza. The official objective is to capture most if not all the territory of Gaza.
Detonation of a tunnel: The red line emphasizes its route – the red plumes are from ventilation shafts.
In the run-up to the ground operation, the Israeli Air Force intensified its airstrikes on commanders, command centers and Hamas fighting positions. Many of these strikes required pinpoint accuracy, with small bombs or missiles sent into specific rooms Hamas had commandeered inside hospitals and schools. Others required heavier bombs to penetrate underground facilities.
Among the targets was the current Hamas chief, Mahmoud Sinwar (who replaced his brother Yahya Sinwar, killed in October 2024), and one, perhaps two, Hamas brigade commanders (those of the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades) and several of Sinwar’s staff. It is unclear whether or not they were killed. A Saudi report claims that the bodies of Sinwar and at least 10 of his assistants were recovered, but Hamas has not officially admitted this.
Publicized details of the IDF’s new offensive show a different approach from previous operations. This time, there will be a simultaneous offensive throughout Gaza rather than a sequential one. The territory taken will be held and cleared.
Also, a different approach is planned for managing the civilian population. Previously, civilians were ordered to evacuate each area where the Israelis were operating and told to stay outside that area until the Israelis had withdrawn. This time, the plan is to set up humanitarian enclaves in areas taken by the Israeli forces, and supplies entering Gaza will be sent exclusively to those locations. The population will then be instructed to move to those enclaves via filtration points to ensure that Hamas and other terrorist personnel do not join them.
The civilian and humanitarian management of the enclaves will be in the hands of a new international organization, the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, set up specifically for this purpose. The UN, UNRWA, and other pro-Hamas NGOs will not be involved. To no one’s surprise, the UN establishment is criticizing this approach.
The location of an attacked Hamas post (marked in red) inside the compound of al-Ahali hospital (the white boundary).
More and more people in Gaza are allowing themselves to openly criticize Hamas, though the initial wave of public demonstrations appears to have abated after several participants were killed by Hamas. There have also been many more posts by Gazans who say they would leave Gaza permanently if they were allowed to do so.
While the number of such posts is increasing, it is still relatively small, and we don’t know how deep this sentiment is — are these people exceptions, or do they represent a much larger portion of the population? On several occasions, crowds have broken into storage sites where Hamas has been hoarding humanitarian aid. In one case, a local merchant’s warehouse was ransacked after it was published that he was hoarding food rather than selling it in anticipation of higher prices.
The Hamas Ministry of Health’s latest casualty update from May 17 claims approximately 54,000 killed and 120,000 wounded. Hamas still does not differentiate between combatants and non-combatants. According to the IDF, in January 2025 these included a verified total of more than 20,000 Hamas personnel and at least 3,000 personnel of other terrorist organizations. Since the resumption of fighting in March, many more terrorists have been killed, but no specific number has been provided. The number of wounded terrorists is not known but is probably at least similar to the number killed. And we have no way to know if any of Hamas’ numbers are accurate.
Another Israeli soldier died earlier this week in Gaza, bringing the total number of casualties since October 8 to 420.
Israeli offensive operations continue in the West Bank, though their intensity has diminished. Resistance to Israeli operations is also waning. Those killed are usually commanders who refuse to surrender or who are in the middle of conducting attacks on the Israelis.
Hamas has attempted to galvanize the population to join the fighting against the IDF, but with virtually no response so far. In fact, the frequency of terrorist attacks against Israelis has gone down considerably. Since the last update, it has reached one of its lowest levels in many years.
The Fatah-controlled security forces of the Palestinian Authority have continued their operations against their Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad rivals in areas where the Israelis are not operating. They have arrested several hundred.
Dr. Eado Hecht, a senior research fellow at the BESA Center, is a military analyst focusing mainly on the relationship between military theory, military doctrine, and military practice. He teaches courses on military theory and military history at Bar-Ilan University, Haifa University, and Reichman University and in a variety of courses in the Israel Defense Forces. A version of this article was originally published by The BESA Center.
The post Here’s What’s Happening in Gaza Right Now first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel’s Supreme Court Orders Improved Food for Security Prisoners
Israel’s Supreme Court. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
i24 News – Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday instructed the Prison Service (Shabas) to guarantee adequate food supplies for security prisoners, ruling that current conditions fall short of minimum legal standards. The decision followed an appeal filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
In a 2–1 ruling, the court found that the food situation posed “a risk of non-compliance with legal standards.” Justice Dafna Barak-Erez stressed that the matter concerned “basic conditions necessary for survival, as required by law,” not comfort or privilege. Justice Ofer Grosskopf agreed, noting the state had not shown the policy was consistently applied to all inmates.
Justice David Mintz dissented, maintaining that the existing policy already met legal requirements.
The court underscored that Israel’s legal obligations remain binding, even in light of the ongoing hostage crisis in Gaza and the fact that many of the prisoners include Hamas members involved in the October 7, 2023 attack.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ruling, arguing that while hostages in Gaza lack protection, “terrorist murderers, kidnappers, and rapists in prison” benefit from the Court’s intervention. He added that prisoners would continue receiving only the minimum conditions required by law.
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Ukrainian Government Building Set Ablaze in Record Russian Airstrike
Illustrative. More damage caused by the Russian drone that hit the Perlina school in Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct. 30, 2024. Photo: Jewish community JCC in Kyiv, Kyiv municipality, and Yan Dobronosov
i24 News – The Ukrainian government’s main building in Kyiv was hit overnight Saturday by Russian airstrikes for the first time since the war, igniting a fire in the building, authorities said. Firefighters are working to put out the flames.
“The government building was damaged by an enemy attack — the roof and upper floors,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said. The blaze is is burning in the area of the office of the prime minister.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched a total of 805 drones and 13 missiles overnight on Ukraine — a record number since the start of the war.
Also as a result of the strike, a baby and a young woman were killed after a nine-story residential building was hit in the Svyatoshynsky district, also in Kyiv. Rescuers are still looking for a third body, authorities said. A woman was also reported killed in the strike in Novopavlivka village.
“The world must respond to this destruction not only with words, but also with actions. We need to increase sanctions pressure – primarily against Russian oil and gas. We need new restrictions that will hit the Kremlin’s military machine. And most importantly, Ukraine needs weapons. Something that will stop the terror and prevent Russia from trying to kill Ukrainians every day,” wrote Sviridenko after the attack.
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‘Trump’s Legacy Crumbles’: Israelis Call on US President to End Gaza War
Israeli protestors take part in a rally demanding the immediate release of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the end of war in Gaza, in Jerusalem September 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, issuing direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to force an end to the Gaza war and secure the release of the hostages.
Protesters packed a public square outside the military headquarters, waving Israeli flags and holding placards with images of the hostages. Some carried signs, including one that read: ‘Trump’s legacy crumbles as the Gaza war persists.’
Another said: “PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAVE THE HOSTAGES NOW!”
“We think that Trump is the only man in the world who has authority over Bibi, that can force Bibi to do this,” said Tel Aviv resident Boaz, 40, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
There is growing despair among many Israelis at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has ordered the military to capture a major urban center where hostages may be held.
Families of the hostages and their supporters fear the assault on Gaza City could endanger their loved ones, a concern the military leadership shares, according to Israeli officials.
Orna Neutra, the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed on October 7, 2023 and whose body is being held in Gaza by militants, accused the government of abandoning its citizens.
“We truly hope that the United States will push both sides to finally reach a comprehensive deal that will bring them home,” she told the rally. Her son, Omer, is also American.
Tel Aviv has witnessed weekly demonstrations that have grown in size, with protesters demanding that the government secure a ceasefire with Hamas to obtain the release of hostages. Organizers said Saturday night’s rally was attended by tens of thousands. A large demonstration was also held in Jerusalem.
There are 48 hostages held in Gaza. Israeli officials believe that around 20 are still alive. Palestinian terrorists abducted 251 people from Israel on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led its attack. Most of the hostages who have been released were freed after indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
NO PURPOSE
Trump had pledged a swift end to the war in Gaza during his presidential campaign, but nearly eight months into his second term, a resolution has remained elusive. On Friday, he said that Washington was engaged in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas.
Israeli forces have carried out heavy strikes on the suburbs of Gaza City, where, according to a global hunger monitor, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are facing famine. Israeli officials acknowledge that hunger exists in Gaza but deny that the territory is facing famine. On Saturday, the military warned civilians in Gaza City to leave and move to southern Gaza.
There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in the city that was home to around a million before the war.
A video released by Hamas on Friday featured Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, saying that he was being held in Gaza City and feared being killed by the military’s assault on the city. Rights groups have condemned such videos of hostages as inhumane. Israel says that it is psychological warfare.
The war has become unpopular among some segments of Israeli society, and opinion polls show that most Israelis want Netanyahu’s right-wing government to negotiate a permanent ceasefire with Hamas that secures the release of the hostages.
“The war has no purpose at all, except for violence and death,” said Boaz from Tel Aviv. Adam, 48, said it had become obvious that soldiers were being sent to war for “nothing.”
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since it launched its retaliatory war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel from Gaza in October 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed in that attack on southern Israel.
The terrorist group, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but today controls only parts of the enclave, on Saturday once again said that it would release all hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza.
Netanyahu is pushing for an all-or-nothing deal that would see all of the hostages released at once and Hamas surrendering.
The prime minister has said Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel led to the war.
Hamas has acknowledged it would no longer govern Gaza once the war ends but has refused to discuss laying down its weapons.