Residents trapped in Gaza City even as mediators seek truce

Hamas says massive attack this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war

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Residents of Gaza City were trapped in houses and bodies lay uncollected in the streets under an intense new Israeli assault on July 11, even as Washington pushed for a peace deal at talks in Egypt and Qatar.

Hamas militants say a massive Israeli assault on Gaza City this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war, just as negotiations entered the home stretch.

Home to more than a quarter of Gaza’s residents before the war, Gaza City was destroyed during the first weeks of fighting in 2023, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to homes in the ruins. They have now once again been ordered out by the Israeli military.

The Gaza Health Ministry said it has reports of people trapped and others killed in their houses in the Tel Al-Hawa and Sabra districts of Gaza City, and rescuers could not reach them.

The Civil Emergency Service said it estimated that at least 30 people had been killed in the Tel Al-Hawa and Rimal areas, and it could not recover bodies from the streets there.