Israeli tanks close in on Gaza City, Trump to chair meeting

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli tanks pushed into a new area on the edge of Gaza City overnight, destroying houses and prompting residents to flee, witnesses said, ahead of an expected meeting on the war to be chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Tanks late on Tuesday entered into the Ebad-Alrahman neighbourhood on the northern edge of Gaza City and shelled houses, wounding several people and forcing many others, who had been taken by surprise, to move deeper into Gaza's largest city, residents said.

"All of a sudden, we heard that the tanks pushed into Ebad-Alrahman, the sounds of explosions became louder, and louder, and we saw people escaping towards our area," said Saad Abed, 60, a former construction worker.

"If no truce is reached, we will see the tanks outside our homes," he told Reuters via a chat app from his house in Jala Street in Gaza City, around one kilometre (0.6 mile) from the Ebad-Alrahman neighbourhood. 

Israel has said it is preparing to launch a new offensive in Gaza City, which it describes as Hamas' last bastion. Around half of the enclave's two million people are currently living there and Israel has said they will be told to evacuate. 

Thousands have already left, but church leaders in the city said on Wednesday they were staying put, as leaving Gaza City and "trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence".

"For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds," a  joint statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday that Trump would chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House on Wednesday and added that Washington expected Israel's war in the Palestinian territory to be settled by the end of the year.

The U.S. State Department separately said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington. It was unclear who would be present at the Trump meeting.

TANKS PULL BACK, BOMBARDMENTS CONTINUE  

Israeli tanks retreated from the edge of Gaza City later on Wednesday to the Jabalia area, where they have been operating for months, although bombardments on three of the city's eastern suburbs - Shejaia, Zeitoun and Sabra - continued.

Gaza health authorities said Israeli fire had killed at least 20 people, including a four-year-old girl, across the enclave.  

The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces were operating in Jabalia and the outskirts of Gaza City to "dismantle terror infrastructure sites and eliminate terrorists".

It said it had killed a senior Hamas militant, Mahmoud Al-Aswad, who served as the group's head of general security intelligence for the West Gaza area, on August 22. Hamas has not confirmed his death.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing mounting opposition to the war. Thousands of Israelis rallied across the country on Tuesday demanding an end to the conflict and the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. 

Israel has yet to publicly respond to the latest 60-day U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, which it had previously accepted and which Hamas last week agreed to.

The war was triggered on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show.

Israel's subsequent military campaign against Hamas has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. It has plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis, displaced nearly its entire population and left much of the territory in ruins.  

On Wednesday, the Gaza health ministry said 10 more people have died of malnutrition and starvation, raising deaths from such causes to 313 people, including 119 children, since the war started. Israel disputes fatality figures by the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Sharon Singleton)