ce Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday declared that “Gaza is burning,” following a spate of overnight airstrikes on Gaza City. The statement signals the likely beginning of a new phase in Israel’s military campaign in the territory.
The strikes appear to be part of a broader offensive aimed at dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure in Gaza City, a plan that Israeli leadership has been signaling in recent weeks.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to the press before departing Israel for Qatar, indicated that the military operation had already commenced. “The Israelis have begun operations there,” he said. “We now have a very narrow window for diplomacy, not months, maybe just days.” he continues.
Rubio emphasized that the U.S. continues to favour a negotiated resolution but acknowledged the difficulty of reaching such an outcome. “Ideally, this ends with a deal in which Hamas agrees to disarm and ceases to be a threat,” he said. “But when you’re dealing with a group like Hamas, that might not be feasible, though we still hope it is,” he adds.
While in Jerusalem a day earlier on Monday, Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing U.S. support for Israel’s renewed offensive and endorsing its stated objective of eliminating Hamas’s operational capacity in Gaza.
