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GAZA CITY: Israel’s military said Tuesday that it had expanded its operations in Gaza, where residents reported fierce gunfire and shelling days before a planned trip to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The intensified operations came after days of mounting calls for a ceasefire, with US President Donald Trump — whom Netanyahu is scheduled to meet next week — among those urging Israel to strike a new deal to halt the war and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza.
Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that Israeli forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday. In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army told AFP it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities.”

I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the (Israeli) army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground

Raafat Halles, 39, Shujaiya district

Separately, it said Tuesday morning that in recent days it had “expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, eliminating dozens of terrorists and dismantling hundreds of terror infrastructure sites both above and below ground.”
Raafat Halles, 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City, said “air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week,” and tanks have been advancing.
“I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
Amer Daloul, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, also reported fiercer clashes between Israeli forces and militants in recent days, telling AFP that he and his family were forced to flee the tent they were living in at dawn on Tuesday “due to heavy and random gunfire and shelling.”
AFP photographers saw Israeli tanks deploying at the Gaza border in southern Israel and children picking through the rubble of a destroyed home in Gaza City.
Others photographed Palestinians mourning over the bodies of relatives in the city’s Al-Shifa hospital and the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.
Netanyahu announced he would visit Trump and senior US security officials next week, amid mounting pressure to end more than 20 months of devastating fighting in Gaza.
Trump vowed Tuesday to be “very firm” in his stance on ending the war when he meets the Israeli premier on July 7.
“But he (Netanyahu) wants it too.... He wants to end it too,” the US president added.
Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu told AFP the group is “ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces.”
“So far, there has been no breakthrough.”

BEIRUT: Lebanese officials were drafting a response on Tuesday to US demands for armed group Hezbollah to relinquish its weapons across the country by November in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations, two sources briefed on the matter said.

The deadline has turned up the heat on Iran-backed Hezbollah, which was struck hard by Israel during last year’s war, is suffering a financial crunch and faces pressure in Lebanon to disarm.

Washington’s demands were conveyed by Thomas Barrack, US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkiye, during a trip to Beirut on June 19.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters Barrack had shared a written roadmap with Lebanese officials and told them he expected to hear back by July 1 on any proposed amendments.

The six-page document centers on the disarmament of Hezbollah and other militant groups, and urges Lebanon to improve ties with neighboring Syria and implement financial reforms, they said.

It proposes a phased approach to disarmament, in which Hezbollah would hand in its arms throughout Lebanon in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying areas in south Lebanon, the sources said.

Barrack said full disarmament should be completed by November or by the end of the year at the latest, they said.

Disarmament would end Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah members and unlock funds to rebuild parts of Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces last year, they said.

The US has said Washington will not support reconstruction in Lebanon without Hezbollah laying down arms.

The proposal also refers to establishing a mechanism overseen by the United Nations to secure the release of Hezbollah-linked prisoners by Israel, the sources said.

They said Barrack had urged Lebanese officials to seize the opportunity laid out in the roadmap as it “may not come up again.” He is set to return to Lebanon next week.

Barrack had not yet gotten Israeli approval for the roadmap, the sources said. There was no immediate response from the US state department, Israel’s prime minister’s office or Israel’s foreign ministry to Reuters requests for comment.

’THE RIGHT TO SAY NO’
Lebanon has appointed a committee to formulate a preliminary response, comprised of delegates from the offices of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, President Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, the sources said.

It was not clear whether the initial reply would be ready by Tuesday. The US proposal includes a condition that the final deal be sealed with a unanimous decision by Lebanon’s government, the sources said.

The second source, and a third source briefed on the matter, said Berri was in close communication with Hezbollah to secure the group’s input.

“Hezbollah has not refused to cooperate with the committee and in fact began sending signals of cooperation — but has not committed to disarming,” the third source said.

The prospect of securing Hezbollah’s disarmament — unimaginable two years ago — underlines the big shifts in the Middle East power balance to the detriment of Iran’s allies across the region since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in October 2023.

Some of Hezbollah’s arsenal was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, and other depots in southern Lebanon were handed over to Lebanon’s army in accordance with the US-brokered ceasefire that ended that round of conflict.

That deal called for the disarmament of armed groups across Lebanon. Hezbollah has said it applies only to the group in Lebanon’s southernmost districts.

Hezbollah has not commented publicly on Barrack’s proposal. But in a televised address on Monday, its secretary general, Naim Qassem, reiterated Hezbollah’s resistance to US and Israeli pressure and urged other Lebanese to do the same.

“We have the right to say ‘no’ to them, ‘no’ to America, ‘no’ to Israel,” Qassem said. “We call on you in Lebanon: do not help Israel and America with their plans.”

Qassem said the US and Israel “want to exploit the moment to turn the equation in the entire region in their image.”