Israel army announces ‘extensive ground operations’ under ramped-up Gaza campaign
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Israeli military jeeps drive near the city of Sderot, Israel, on May 18.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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GAZA CITY - The Israeli army announced “extensive ground operations” on May 18 as part of its newly expanded campaign in the Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported that dozens were killed in a wave of Israeli strikes.
The announcement came just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled that Israel was open to striking a deal with Hamas that involved “ending the fighting” in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The military said that over the past day, troops had “begun extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”, adding that they had “eliminated dozens of terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure... and are currently being deployed in key positions”.
Israel says its ramped-up campaign is aimed at freeing hostages and defeating Hamas, but as the early stages of the operation got under way on May 17, Israel and the group were entering indirect talks in Qatar
In a statement on May 18, Mr Netanyahu’s office said “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”, referring to US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in previous discussions.
Such a deal, according to Mr Netanyahu’s statement, “would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip”.
Ever since a two-month ceasefire fell apart in March as Israel resumed its offensive, talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US have failed to reach a breakthrough.
Mr Netanyahu has opposed ending the war without Hamas’ total defeat, while Hamas has baulked at the prospect of handing over its weapons.
Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu had previously said that the talks in Doha had kicked off “without any pre-conditions from either side”.
A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said the group was willing “to release all Israeli hostages in one batch, provided that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire agreement is reached”, but Israel “wants to release its prisoners in one batch or in two batches in exchange for a temporary truce”.
Speaking to troops in Gaza on May 18, Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir pointed to the new operation starting, and said the military would “provide flexibility to the political echelon to advance any hostage deal”.
“A hostage deal is not a halt, it is an achievement. We are actively working toward it,” he added.
Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel on May 18 afternoon, as the army said two projectiles were launched from Gaza, with one intercepted.
The military later issued an evacuation order for several parts of Gaza ahead of an attack, warning it would “launch a powerful strike on any area used for launching rockets”.
‘No one left’
On the ground, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at least 50 people had been killed on May 18 “as a result of ongoing Israeli air strikes since the early hours”.
He said 22 people were killed and at least 100 others wounded
AFPTV footage showed people sifting through the wreckage of ruined shelters and rescuers treating the wounded.
“All my family members are gone. There is no one left,” said a distraught Warda al-Shaer, standing amid the wreckage in Al-Mawasi.
“The children were killed as well as their parents. My mother died, too, and my niece lost her eye.”
The military said in a statement that over the past week the air force had conducted a “preliminary wave” of strikes, hitting “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations”.
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on May 18.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hospitals ‘out of service’
Israel has faced mounting pressure to lift its aid blockade, as UN agencies warn of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicine.
Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of field hospitals at Gaza’s Health Ministry, told AFP that since the blockade began, “57 children have died in Gaza as a result of famine, but in the coming days, this number will increase due to the depletion of available food supplies”.
AFP was not able to independently verify the figure.
The UN had warned of the risk of famine in Gaza long before the aid blockade was imposed, and doctors at Kamal Adwan Hospital told a World Health Organisation team in 2024 that at least 10 children had starved to death.
The ministry also accused Israel on May 18 of laying siege to the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, cutting off the arrival of patients and staff, and “effectively forcing the hospital out of service”.
“With the shutdown of the Indonesian Hospital, all public hospitals in the North Gaza Governorate are now out of service,” it said.
Hamas’ October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,339. AFP
