Israel announces new offensive in Gaza

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had launched "extensive ground operations" in northern and southern Gaza, intensifying a new campaign in the enclave, where Palestinian health authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 130 people overnight.

Israel made the announcement after sources from both sides said there had been no progress in a new round of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas - designated a terrorist organization by the US and the EU - in Qatar.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the latest talks in Doha included discussions of a ceasefire and a hostage deal, as well as a proposal to end the war in exchange for the imprisonment of Hamas militants and the demilitarization of the enclave — conditions that Hamas has previously rejected.

The Israeli military said it had launched a preliminary wave of strikes on more than 670 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past week to support the ground operation, dubbed "Gideon's Chariots."

According to the military, dozens of Hamas fighters were killed. Palestinian health authorities say hundreds of people were killed, including many women and children.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since early March to pressure Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the US and EU - to release Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could include taking control of the entire Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid.

Hamas says it will only release the hostages in exchange for an Israeli ceasefire.

Mediators Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, began a new round of indirect ceasefire talks between the two sides on Saturday, but sources close to the negotiations told Reuters there was no progress.

Sky Arabia and the BBC reported overnight that Hamas had proposed the release of about half of the Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Contacted by Reuters, a Hamas official said: "Israel's position remains unchanged, they want the release of their prisoners, without committing to ending the war."

Potentially further complicating the ceasefire process, reports in Israeli and Arab media said Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar may have been killed.

Hamas neither confirmed nor denied the news. The Israeli Defense Ministry had no comment.

In Israel, Einav Zangauker, the mother of Hamas hostage Matan Zangauker, said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to end the war in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, because of his own political interests.

"The Israeli government still insists on a partial agreement. They are deliberately torturing us. Bring our children back, all 58 of them!" Zangauker wrote on the social platform X./ REL