bombardment

Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Tuesday as they pounded Gaza from the air and ground, as world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York demanded an end to the two-year war.

Residential buildings continue to be flattened as Israel presses ahead with its plan to seize the enclave’s largest city.

Satellite imagery analysed by Al Jazeera shows Israeli army vehicles tightening a stranglehold around Gaza City, surrounding it from several directions. Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows tanks pushing into the Nassr neighbourhood, barely a kilometre from al-Shifa Hospital.

This destruction forms part of a pattern that a UN commission says amounts to genocide.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday warned that Israel’s military actions are “inflicting terror on the Palestinian population of Gaza City and forcing tens of thousands to flee”.

The suffering of Palestinians has drawn the attention of the global leaders, who have used the UNGA platform to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

Addressing the UNGA, US President Donald Trump said that the Gaza war should stop “immediately” but dismissed the recognition of a Palestinian state by several Western countries, calling it a “reward” for Hamas.

The US president met leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan on the sidelines of the UNGA. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the meeting was “very fruitful,” adding that a joint declaration from the meeting would be published.

‘Stuck under the rubble’

Israeli strikes have hit civilians across Gaza. One man was killed and others wounded in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, while another strike hit Palestinians queueing for water in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood, sources told Al Jazeera.

Medical infrastructure is also being dismantled. Israeli shelling destroyed the main medical centre in Gaza City, injuring at least two medical workers, according to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

The charity said that troops prevented the evacuation of equipment and supplies, even as the facility served the wounded, cancer patients and blood donors. Other clinics in Tal al-Hawa and the Shati refugee camp have also been destroyed or besieged.

Hind Khoudary, reporting for Al Jazeera from az-Zawayda, described the devastation: “The situation continues to deteriorate, especially in the heart of Gaza City, where Israeli forces have been using artillery shelling and quadcopters to push more Palestinians to evacuate to the south and central areas.

“There have been endless appeals from Palestinian families saying their relatives are stuck under the rubble, but no one can reach them.”

No safe zones

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Gaza City have ended up in the central and southern areas of the enclave, which are under constant bombardment. The Israeli-designated “safe zone” of al-Mawasi has itself been attacked repeatedly, with health officials warning that it lacks the basic necessities of life, including water, food [and] health services, while disease spreads through overcrowded camps.

Experts say the forced movement is itself part of the machinery of genocide: driving families into displacement under fire and stripping them of shelter, food and dignity.

At Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, doctors report that three Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces near the supposed safe zone further south. Three children died from malnutrition in southern Gaza, according to hospital sources.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared that famine was under way in northern Gaza and would spread south. Gaza’s Ministry of Health warns that hospitals are now “entering an extremely dangerous phase” due to fuel shortages.

This collapse of health services and the deliberate obstruction of food and fuel deliveries has led to UN experts accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

West Bank under attack

While global attention remains fixed on the destruction in Gaza, events in the occupied West Bank may carry even deeper implications for the future of the conflict.

Israel has threatened to accelerate annexation plans in the West Bank in the wake of recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries, including France and the United Kingdom.

On the ground, violence has intensified. Armed settlers shot dead Saeed Murad al-Nasan in the village of al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Israeli forces raided multiple towns around Nablus and ordered the indefinite closure of the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge, the only gateway for goods and people between the West Bank and Jordan.

The tightening of settlements, killings and closure of borders are not isolated incidents. Together, they form part of what a UN report on Tuesday described as a systematic effort to secure permanent Israeli control over Gaza and entrench a Jewish majority in the West Bank.

It comes after a UN commission concluded last week that Israel’s policies – forced displacement, denial of return, destruction of infrastructure and the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon – meet the legal definition of genocide.

Roughly 200,000 Palestinians have fled besieged Gaza City in recent weeks, according to Israeli military estimates reported by Israeli media, with tens of thousands departing in recent days as military operations intensify.

Amnesty International and other human rights organisations have denounced Israel’s escalating offensive in northern Gaza, warning of “catastrophic and irreversible consequences” for Palestinian civilians.

Israel has issued renewed forced evacuation directives for approximately one million people to evacuate Gaza City, where it has stepped up bombardment of high-rise buildings while preparing for the next phase of military action in what it claims is Hamas’s final stronghold. On Wednesday, the Israeli military announced imminent increases in targeted strikes near Gaza City.

Palestinians are being forced to move southward, where hundreds of thousands already endure overcrowded tent settlements that Israel periodically strikes.

Many residents decline to leave, citing exhaustion and a lack of resources.

“There is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” said Fawzi Muftah, as people travelled with vehicles loaded with possessions. “Danger is everywhere.”

Amal Sobh, displaced with 30 family members, including 13 orphans, recounted being stranded after their vehicle broke down without fuel.

“We do not have good blankets or good bedding, and winter is coming. What do we do for our children? We do not even have a proper tent to shelter us,” said Sobh, whose husband was arrested during the conflict.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 126 Palestinians, including 26 children, have died from malnutrition-related conditions since famine was declared in Gaza City on August 22. Throughout the war, 404 people, including 141 children, have perished from malnutrition.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 64,656 people and wounded 163,503 since October 2023, with tens of thousands more believed to be trapped beneath rubble.

Waves of Russian missile and drone strikes have killed at least 15 people and injured 116 others, with most of the casualties in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have reported.

The massive aerial assault overnight into Tuesday struck 27 locations in the Ukrainian capital, damaging residential buildings and critical infrastructure, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

Ukrainian officials were quick to call for international attention on the attacks as Kyiv pushes diplomatic efforts to raise pressure on Moscow to agree a ceasefire.

“Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,” Klymenko said, describing the attack as one of the largest against Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.

Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, and emergency services were searching through the rubble for possible survivors, Klymenko added.

People were injured in Kyiv’s Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, and fires broke out in two other parts of the city, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

‘Total disrespect’

Klitschko also noted that a United States citizen died from shrapnel wounds.

The Russian strikes, which lasted throughout the night, came as world leaders met in Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to attend the talks on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha suggested the “massive and brutal strike” against Kyiv was deliberately timed, in particular painting it as an insult to US President Donald Trump.

“Putin does this on purpose, just during the G7 summit. He sends a signal of total disrespect to the United States and other partners who have called for an end to the killing,” he wrote on social media.

Zelenskyy is seeking to persuade Trump to extend support to Ukraine and put additional pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a ceasefire.

Sybiha suggested the Russian president wanted to make G7 leaders “appear weak”.

“Only strong steps and real pressure on Moscow can prove him wrong,” the diplomat added.

Zelenskyy called the overnight strikes “one of the most horrific attacks” carried out by Moscow and declared that Putin “does this solely because he can afford to continue the war”.

Little progress

Pressed by Trump, Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of direct talks over a truce but have made little progress with the exception of agreeing prisoner exchanges and the return of bodies.

In the meantime, Russia has increased its bombardments since a daring operation by Ukraine deep inside Russia on June 1 destroyed much of Moscow’s heavy bomber fleet.

In its latest attacks, Russia used 175 drones and more than 14 cruise missiles, Kyiv’s authorities said on Telegram.

Officials in Odesa said 13 people had been injured in further attacks on the Black Sea port city.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 147 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

While Ukraine is pressing for support from the West to help it maintain its air defences, Russia is suspected of sourcing arms from China, Iran and North Korea.

Reflecting Moscow’s growing ties with Pyongyang, Putin’s top security adviser, Sergei Shoigu, was reported by Russian state media to have arrived in the North Korean capital on Tuesday for talks with leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea is suspected of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles, antitank rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition while thousands of its soldiers are reported to have died during operations to oust occupying Ukrainian troops from Russia’s border region of Kursk.

It is the second time that Shoigu has visited North Korea in less than two weeks, and it is seen as a sign that Moscow and Pyongyang are continuing to deepen their alliance. Kim and Putin signed a strategic partnership treaty last year, including a mutual defence pact.

Iran has launched a new wave of ballistic missiles against Israel soon after loud explosions were heard in its capital Tehran, as the two countries continue to trade heavy fire for a third consecutive day and as US President Donald Trump hints both at peace coming “soon” and at the possibility of the United States joining the conflict.

On Sunday, residents in Tehran reported shuddering blasts in different areas in the heart of the city. Reports say missiles struck in Niavaran and Tajrish, in the capital’s north, and around the Valiasr and Hafte Tir squares in the city centre.

Other cities attacked by Israel included Shiraz and Isfahan, where a military base of the Defence Ministry was hit. The Israeli army said it struck an aerial refuelling aircraft at Mashhad Airport in eastern Iran, describing it as its longest-range attack since launching operations against Iran last week.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said, “Iran has not experienced a war to this extent since the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988. There were similar Israeli strikes last year, of course, but nothing compared to what’s been happening since Friday.”

“The government said earlier today that metro stations, schools and mosques are going to be ready to host people. But parts of these facilities, including mosques and schools, do not seem safe enough to be used as a sort of shelter,” he added.

Iranian officials say at least 138 people have been killed in Israel’s onslaught since Friday, including 60 on Saturday, half of them children, when a missile brought down a 14-storey apartment block in Tehran. There were no reports as yet of casualties from Sunday’s attacks.

In Israel, authorities said on Sunday that several missiles were launched from Iran, most of which were intercepted.

Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble from the previous night’s wave of Iranian strikes. The hardest hit area was the town of Bat Yam, where more than 60 buildings were damaged. “Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments in Bat Yam, a city just south of Tel Aviv.

Overnight, Iran struck the port city of Haifa and neighbouring Tamra, where at least four women were killed. Since the start of the conflict on Thursday, at least 13 people have been killed and 380 have been wounded in Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said, “The damage from Iranian attacks is certainly extensive and unprecedented. This is the first time that Israel has confronted a state with a formidable army in the region, certainly the first time since 1973 [against Egypt]”.

“To the north, in Haifa, oil and gas pipelines were damaged, but activities continue at the oil refineries”, she added.

Israel launched its operation with a surprise attack on Friday that killed several members of the Iranian military’s top echelon, killed several nuclear scientists, and damaged the country’s nuclear sites. Since then, Israel’s attacks have been broadening in their scope, hitting residential areas and Iran’s civilian and energy sectors and raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state.

Diplomacy

As both parties continue to pound each other with strikes, hopes for a diplomatic solution seem distant for now, though they will no doubt be high on the agenda of the Group of Seven summit beginning Monday in Canada.

Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran does not seek to expand the conflict to neighbouring countries unless forced to.

Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s opposition to nuclear weapons but defended its right to peaceful nuclear development. He said Iran had been ready to offer assurances in the now-cancelled sixth round of US talks, which could have led to an agreement, though Israel derailed the diplomatic progress.

The US and Iran have held five rounds of talks since April to try to find a path to a new nuclear deal that would replace a 2015 accord that Trump abandoned during his first term in office.

Araghchi also said Israel’s attacks on his country could not have materialised without the agreement and support of the US.

“We have well-documented and solid evidence of the support provided by American forces in the region and their bases for the military attacks of the Zionist regime”.

He said Trump has publicly and explicitly confirmed he knew about the attacks, that they could not have happened without US weapons and equipment, and that more attacks are coming. “Therefore, the US, in our opinion, is a partner in these attacks and must accept its responsibility.”

Talking to Fox News, Netanyahu seemed to clearly confirm that, saying he informed Trump ahead of launching the attacks.

He described the cooperation with the Trump administration as “unprecedented”, adding that the Israeli intelligence shares “every bit of information” with Washington. Netanyahu projected that regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel’s attacks.

Trump has denied any involvement and warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include US targets, but also didn’t rule out more direct US involvement beyond the vast arsenal and intelligence the US provides to Israel.

“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before,” the US president said in a message on Truth Social.

He also claimed peace could be reached “soon”, suggesting that many diplomatic meetings were taking place.

“We can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make a bomb.

Trump told ABC he would be “open” to Russian President Vladimir Putin being a mediator. “He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it”.

The US president’s words were a first hint at Washington’s diplomatic involvement in the ongoing conflict. In recent days, the US has ratcheted down its diplomatic presence in countries in the region, anticipating that air strikes on Iranian military sites would be taking place.

Hamas has released Edan Alexander, a dual United States-Israeli national and soldier, as it seeks to revive ceasefire negotiations and an end to Israel’s punishing blockade on the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed on Monday evening that it had facilitated the soldier’s transfer. An image was released showing Alexander with Hamas members and a Red Cross official.

Hamas said it had released Alexander as a goodwill gesture towards US President Donald Trump, who is visiting Arab Gulf nations this week.

Fighting briefly stopped to allow for the handover after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would permit safe passage for the release.

“Edan Alexander, American hostage thought dead, to be released by Hamas. Great news!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“The government of Israel warmly welcomes soldier Sergeant Edan Alexander who has been returned from Hamas captivity,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.

“The government of Israel is committed to the return of all hostages and missing persons – both the living and the fallen,” the statement added. Families of the captives have accused Netanyahu of putting his own political survival above that of the captives still held in Gaza.

In a statement, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric welcomed Alexander’s release while calling for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

“We are relieved that one more family has been reunited today. This nightmare, however, continues for the remaining hostages, their families, and hundreds of thousands of civilians across Gaza,” Spoljaric said.

Alexander’s mother reportedly arrived in Israel on Monday and was flown to the Re’im military base, where the two were expected to be reunited later in the evening, according to Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel.

Despite the release, Israel has made no commitment to a broader ceasefire. “There’s nothing in exchange, no release of Palestinian prisoners, no pause in the fighting,” Salhut said. “If there are going to be any sort of negotiations, they’re going to happen under fire,” Salhut added, referring to the Israeli government’s prevailing line.

Akiva Eldar, an Israeli political analyst, said Alexander’s release has spurred joy as well as frustration in Israel. “What we see is that what President Trump can do, Netanyahu is not able – or not willing – to do,” he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.

The Israeli prime minister has faced widespread calls to end the Gaza war to secure the captives’ release but has said he plans to expand Israel’s offensive.

“Today is a crucial point,” Eldar explained. “Because the Israeli public is aware of the fact that if you want a deal, if you want your sons back at home, you can do it. But for that, you have to be a leader like President Trump and not like Netanyahu.”

Release changes little for devastated Palestinians

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said there seems to be no change forthcoming in Palestinians’ daily suffering: “Palestinians are devastated. They’re exhausted. Palestinian families are unable to feed their children. They’re saying their children are going to bed hungry.”

“The IPC [Integrated Food Security Phase Classification] report issued today said 93 percent of Gaza’s population is living through acute food insecurity. This is because of the blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip,” Khoudary said.

“Palestinians are asking, ‘What’s next? What is this release going to bring? Are there any positive negotiations? Is there any glimpse of hope of a ceasefire?’” she added.

And the bombardment continues, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people on Monday.

Gaza on brink of famine

Humanitarian organisations have warned that Gaza is on the verge of mass starvation. The IPC reported that half a million Palestinians face imminent famine.

According to the IPC, 70 days after Israel blocked entry of essential supplies, “goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks.”

The head of the UN’s World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, urged immediate international action. “Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border,” she said. “If we wait until after a famine is confirmed, it will already be too late for many people.”

Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, also issued a stark warning. “The risk of famine does not arrive suddenly,” she said. “It unfolds in places where access to food is blocked, where health systems are decimated, and where children are left without the bare minimum to survive.”

Hunger, she added, has become “a daily reality for children across the Gaza Strip”.

Gaza assault set to continue

Netanyahu and his hardline government remain committed to escalating the military campaign in Gaza.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a key coalition partner, reiterated his position that the war must continue and humanitarian aid should be blocked from entering the territory.

“Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement, claiming military pressure had compelled Hamas to release Alexander. Critics have countered that the release came about purely because of direct US contacts with Hamas.

Netanyahu met US figures, including Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Ambassador Mike Huckabee, on Monday. His office described the meeting as a “last-ditch effort” to push forward a captive-release deal before the fighting widens.

Huckabee said Trump and his administration “hope this long-overdue release” of Alexander “marks the beginning of the end to this terrible war”.

Israel plans to send a delegation to Doha on Tuesday for talks but made clear military operations would persist. “The prime minister made it clear that negotiations would only take place under fire,” his office said.