Israel ramps up attacks on Gaza as Trump leaves region without a deal

JERUSALEM – Israel on Friday unleashed airstrikes that killed at least 93 people in northern Gaza and massed ground forces outside the enclave as President Donald Trump left the Middle East without announcing any breakthroughs in talks between Israel and Hamas.

The withering Israeli aerial campaign – which raised the number killed in Gaza this week to nearly 300, according to local health authorities – appeared to presage the ground operation to gradually conquer the territory that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch if no ceasefire and hostage exchange deal were struck by the time Trump wrapped up his Middle East tour. Trump’s four-day swing began Tuesday in Saudi Arabia and ended Friday in the United Arab Emirates, with a stop in Qatar in between.

Yet as Trump lifted off to return to Washington on Friday afternoon, Netanyahu did not immediately announce the full-scale ground assault, which some analysts interpreted as a sign that the Israeli premier may still be weighing his options.

“There is still a possibility that there is some sort of skinny deal, but at the moment, the Israeli government seems to be a bit stuck in terms of what it wants to do,” said Michael Koplow, the chief policy officer of the Israel Policy Forum. “It voted to expand the operations in Gaza and conducted a lot of airstrikes yesterday and today, but so far we don’t see evidence that they’re ready to undertake the kind of massive operation they voted for.”

Anticipation steadily built in recent weeks that Trump’s presence in the region could force a breakthrough. As the president arrived in Riyadh on Monday, Hamas said that it would release Edan Alexander, a dual Israeli and American citizen who served in the Israel Defense Forces, as a gesture of goodwill toward Trump, but hopes of a modest deal along the lines proposed by Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff – which would see the release of roughly 10 hostages for at least a month’s truce – dwindled as the week wore on.

On Monday night, Netanyahu visited wounded reservists and vowed to continue the war and re-enter Gaza even if he struck a temporary ceasefire deal with Hamas.

“In the coming days, we will go in with full force to complete the operation,” Netanyahu said, according to a video released by his office. “Maybe Hamas will say, ‘Wait – we want to release 10 more (hostages).’ Fine, bring them. We’ll take them. And then we’ll go in. But there will be no situation where we stop the war.”

“We’re going all the way,” he added.

One witness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, told the Washington Post that Israeli tanks were being massed at a staging point along the Gaza border on Thursday.

The strikes in Gaza on Friday were preparatory actions leading to a larger operation and were meant to send a message to Hamas that the campaign will begin soon if there is not an agreement to release hostages, the Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official.

When asked about Gaza on Friday, Trump offered mixed signals. He told reporters that there are “a lot of bad things going on” but promised it would change soon.

“We’re looking at Gaza, and we got to get that taken care of,” Trump said. “A lot of people are starving.”

Trump’s comments came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was “troubled” by the humanitarian situation.

Aside from the question of renewing a ground campaign, Israeli and U.S. officials have also not finalized a plan to distribute food despite an Israeli blockade on the flow of aid for more than 70 days. Although Netanyahu’s cabinet required – via a vote May 4 – that food be distributed with the help of private American contractors to vetted civilian recipients in protected zones, many humanitarian groups have questioned the feasibility of the plan.

On Wednesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the American contractor enlisted to carry out the project, issued a statement asking the Israeli government to resume aid until it could set up its operations and to soften some of its demands.

Meanwhile in Gaza, Ola Qadas, a 20-year-old in Beit Lahia, said she had little food, water – and sleep. Israel had issued evacuation orders for much of the north, but she refused to leave. The bombs began dropping long before dawn Friday. “Every area is dangerous,” she said. “Last night (we felt) we were dying 100 times a minute. We didn’t expect we would wake up alive. And there is no safe place for us to go.”

The strikes early Friday closed one of the bloodiest weeks in Gaza since fighting resumed March 18. Israeli strikes killed more than 100 people Thursday, according to the enclave’s civil defense, and more than 70 on Wednesday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The IDF said this week it targeted hundreds of “terror targets” in the Gaza Strip, including anti-tank missile posts, terrorist cells, military structures and operational centers. Israel also carried out massive strikes on and near the European Hospital complex in southern Gaza on Tuesday in what Israeli officials said was an attempt to kill the Hamas military leader Mohammed Sinwar, who continues to exert significant influence over the negotiations with Israel.

Marwan Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, told the Post that bombing started at midnight and did not stop. At least 65 bodies were brought to his hospital, he said, and “the situation had become increasingly dire. Under normal circumstances, critical cases account for 20 to 30% of casualties. Currently, however, 75% of patients require urgent surgical intervention and intensive care.”

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Alon Rom in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.