Israel’s new offensive deepens Gaza destruction
GAZA CITY
Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 103 people overnight and into May 18, hospitals and medics said and prompted the main hospital in northern Gaza to close as Israel intensifies its war in the territory that, after more than 19 months, shows no signs of abating.
More than 48 people were killed in airstrikes in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, some of which hit houses and tents sheltering displaced people, according to Nasser Hospital. Among the dead were 18 children and 13 women, hospital spokesperson Weam Fares said.
The bloodshed comes as Israel ramps up its war in Gaza with a new offensive named “Gideon's Chariots,” in which Israel says it plans to seize territory, displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Gaza's south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
The airstrikes and preparations along the border constituted the first phase of the plan. In the second phase, Israel is expected to launch intense attacks from both air and land across all areas of Gaza, accompanied by evacuation calls to the population — including those in areas not yet fully occupied.
In the final phase, the Israeli military plans to establish a permanent presence in the depopulated areas to which residents were forcibly displaced to the south. To prevent Hamas from reusing the territory, Israel also intends to raze all structures in the occupied zones.
Doha talks include ending war: Netanyahu
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on May 18 that Israel was open to a deal with Hamas that would include "ending the fighting" in Gaza, laying out conditions for such an agreement.
"Even at this very moment, the negotiation team in Doha is working to exhaust every possibility for a deal, whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting, which would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip," his office said in a statement.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between the two sides on May 18, but sources close to the negotiations said that there had been no breakthrough.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on May 18 that all public hospitals in the north of the territory were now "out of service" after Israeli forces besieged the Indonesian hospital.
"The Israeli occupation has intensified its siege with heavy fire around the Indonesian hospital and its surroundings, preventing the arrival of patients, medical staff, and supplies, effectively forcing the hospital out of service," the ministry said.
Israel says the new plan is meant to ramp up pressure on the militant Hamas group to agree to a temporary ceasefire on Israel's terms — one that would free Israeli hostages held in Gaza but wouldn't necessarily end the war. Hamas says it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a pathway to ending the war as part of any new ceasefire deal.
Israel had said it would wait until the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the region before launching its new offensive, saying it was giving a chance for efforts to bring about a new ceasefire deal. Trump did not visit Israel on his trip, which wrapped up on May 16.
