LONDON — As Israel’s army ready final month to launch its ground offensive into Gaza Metropolis, the Israel Protection Forces printed a warning about al-Kawthar Tower, a residential high-rise within the metropolis.
Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arab-language spokesperson, shared on social media a satellite tv for pc photograph with the constructing highlighted in purple. Go away now, he mentioned at about 10 a.m. native time, including, “The protection military will assault the constructing quickly because of the presence of Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside it or adjoining to it.”
By the point the afternoon started, an Israeli airstrike had decreased that constructing and one other one-time residential high-rise prefer it to piles of rebar and concrete.
The mound of rubble on the web site of the Unknown Soldier Tower, destroyed by in a single day Israeli bombardment, is pictured within the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza Metropolis on Sept. 15, 2025.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
These systematic warnings and strikes — which got here weeks forward of the second anniversary of the brutal battle between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group that launched a shock assault on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed greater than 1,200 — had been simply two of many as Israel continued its marketing campaign to “crush” Hamas, within the phrases of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel, within the second 12 months of the conflict, continued looking militants all through the Gaza Strip, continuing at occasions in block-by-block sweeps of neighborhoods and buildings. Just like the al-Kawthar Tower, many buildings and far infrastructure have been destroyed within the course of. Hospitals, schools-turned-shelters and sprawling “tent cities” of displaced folks have all been routinely attacked. The United Nations in March described the harm as “unprecedented,” saying at the moment that some 51 million tons of rubble coated the enclave.
Smoke billows as Israeli airstrikes destroy the al-Ghafari tower in Gaza Metropolis on Sept. 15, 2025.
Omar Al-qattaa/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Many have died, together with thousands of noncombatants, in accordance with officers at authorities companies run by Hamas. By Sunday, two days previous to the conflict’s second anniversary, the dying toll within the strip had risen to 67,139, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Well being mentioned.
A median of 27 youngsters have been killed every day over the previous two years, the strip’s media workplace mentioned on Monday.
A broadening battle and Trump’s serving to hand
A ceasefire deal got here into impact a day earlier than President Donald Trump took workplace in January. Because the president’s second time period started, he mentioned he would search to be a “peacemaker and unifier.” He mentioned he needed to measure success by the wars the U.S. ended and “maybe most significantly, the wars we by no means get into.”
Trump has in months since pushed for a decision to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He hosted Netanyahu on the White Home and dispatched Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Tel Aviv and Qatar to help in negotiations.
President Donald Trump appears on as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers remarks throughout a joint information convention within the State Eating Room on the White Home on Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee/Getty Photographs
However nonetheless, the sinews of the battle have stretched wider within the final 12 months. Though the army mentioned its focus has remained on destroying Hamas in Gaza, the IDF additionally launched important air, floor and sea campaigns into Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. As of the conflict’s second anniversary, Israeli troops are nonetheless occupying lately seized territory in Lebanon and Syria — plus conducting air and artillery strikes in each.
“Collectively, we pushed again our enemies’ plans of destruction,” Netanyahu said on social media on Saturday. “From Gaza to Rafah, from Beirut to Damascus, from Yemen to Tehran, collectively we’ve got achieved nice issues.”
He added, “From victory to victory — we’re altering the face of the Center East collectively. Collectively we are going to proceed to behave to make sure the eternity of Israel.”
Israeli forces have used U.S.-provided weapons and intelligence all through its latest regional conflicts. Trump in June ordered U.S. fighter and bomber plane to launch an attack on a number of key nuclear services in Iran — aiding Israel in an intense and broad airstrike and covert operations marketing campaign it had already launched in opposition to Tehran. Trump in a speech after the strikes mentioned, “Iran, the bully of the Center East, should now make peace. If they don’t, future assaults might be far better and loads simpler.”
Trump additionally informed ABC News he thought the assaults had been “glorious” and recommended there was “extra to come back.”
Accusations of ‘genocide’ in opposition to Israel, UN fee says
Israel has, for the reason that first months of the battle, been accused of systematically killing noncombatants, together with claims that its actions in Gaza quantity to a genocide, in accordance with an independent U.N. commission and the Palestinian Authority president.
These claims continued to canine Israel within the second 12 months of its battle, as civilian casualties in Gaza climbed, mass starvation unfold and the IDF repeatedly pressured giant numbers of Palestinians to relocate. As Israel opened aid routes in July, the IDF mentioned in an announcement that that there’s “no hunger in Gaza.”
Palestinians collect to obtain meals cooked by a charity kitchen, amid the Israel-Hamas battle, within the northern Gaza Strip, Sept. 11, 2024.
Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
The Worldwide Affiliation of Genocide Students, for instance, passed a resolution in September saying Israel’s “insurance policies and actions” in Gaza “meet the authorized definition of genocide,” established by the U.N. in 1948, the group mentioned in a launch.
Human Rights Watch mentioned in an announcement late final month, “Israel’s actions in Gaza ought to have way back triggered the ‘obligation to stop’ underneath the Genocide Conference, however states have didn’t act decisively.”
Israel has vociferously rejected all allegations of genocide, framing its critics as anti-Semitic or — in Netanyahu’s phrases — “helpful idiots” within the service of each Hamas and Iran.
A younger woman reacts as displaced Palestinians elbow their means in entrance of a group kitchen in Khan Yunis within the southern Gaza Strip on September 19, 2025.
AFP by way of Getty Photographs
These accusations continued into the summer season and fall of this 12 months, as one other group, the Built-in Meals Safety Part Classification, a worldwide initiative monitoring starvation with the backing of governments, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
“Mounting proof exhibits that widespread hunger, malnutrition, and illness are driving an increase in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC warning mentioned. “Newest information thresholds have been reached for meals consumption within the Gaza Strip, and for acute malnutrition in Gaza Metropolis.”
Netanyahu’s workplace called that willpower “an outright lie” and “a contemporary blood libel.”
Displaced Palestinian mom Iman Abdel Halim Abu Mutlaq sits inside her tent as her twin sons Uday and Hamza Abu Odah sleep, in Mawasi space, in Khan Younis within the southern Gaza Strip, Sept. 12, 2025.
Ramadan Abed/Reuters
Worldwide outrage constructed because the killing of civilians at or shut to help websites — together with these organized by the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Basis — by Israeli forces occurred on a number of events. The U.N. and different support teams refused to collaborate with the GHF. U.N. specialists mentioned the group was an “completely disturbing instance of how humanitarian aid might be exploited for covert army and geopolitical agendas in critical breach of worldwide legislation.”
The specialists alleged an “entanglement of Israeli intelligence, U.S. contractors and ambiguous non-governmental entities” with the GHF.
The group’s government chairman told ABC News in June that he “basically” disagrees “with the premise that our operation is one way or the other disproportionately imperiling folks.”
The IDF repeatedly rejected claims that it had deliberately fired on hungry civilians. Israeli army and political officers, plus the GHF, blamed Hamas or different Palestinian actors for the violent and determined scenes close to the help websites.
A peace deal takes form underneath Trump
Since returning to workplace in January, Trump has twinned his push for a peace take care of apocalyptic threats in opposition to Hamas. The president has framed a attainable ceasefire settlement as one a part of a wider Center East accord, and “one thing particular” for the entire area.
The president has secured buy-in from key Arab and Muslim states, his efforts energized by his criticism of Israel’s audacious and unsuccessful effort to assassinate prime Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya in an airstrike within the Qatari capital of Doha.
The 20-point peace plan presented by Trump and Netanyahu on the White Home on Sept. 29 seems a far cry from his February “Gaza Riviera” redevelopment scheme, which he mentioned would see the U.S. “take over” and “personal” the Gaza Strip, overseeing its reconstruction with Palestinians relocated outdoors of the strip.
This image taken from a place at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip exhibits destroyed buildings within the besieged Palestinian territory on Sept. 17, 2025.
Jack Guez/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The brand new proposal foresees a switch of energy to a technocratic Palestinian authorities backed by a short lived “Worldwide Stabilization Drive,” manned by Arab and different worldwide companions to supervise the safety of Gaza. The brand new authorities would even be overseen by the “Board of Peace” transitional physique, chaired by Trump with different members together with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The IDF, although, would stay alongside the Gaza perimeter and within the southern Philadelphi frontier crossing, whereas retaining freedom of army motion all through the strip. Hamas leaders could be allowed to go away the strip, however the group must totally disarm.
Displaced Palestinians transfer with their belongings southwards on a street within the Nuseirat refugee camp space within the central Gaza Strip on September 23, 2025.
Eyad Baba/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Hamas on Friday gave a constructive preliminary response, signifying its readiness to free all hostages in trade for Palestinian prisoners if “the sector situations for the trade are met.”
However the group mentioned extra negotiations might be wanted earlier than it will possibly conform to a full peace deal. This week, Hamas, Israeli and U.S. representatives will collect in Egypt’s Purple Sea metropolis of Sharm el-Sheikh for additional ceasefire talks.
In any settlement, these answerable for post-war Gaza face a frightening reconstruction job.
Whole cities have disappeared from Gaza over the previous two years. The U.N. reported in September that 78% of Gaza Strip buildings had been partially or totally destroyed. An ABC Information visual analysis of satellite tv for pc imagery and greater than 200 verified social media movies confirmed that 88% of Gaza’s colleges are destroyed or broken.
In Gaza Metropolis, the place the al-Kawthar Tower and others had been introduced down final month, greater than 50 such “terror towers” had been destroyed earlier than the bottom invasion started, Israel mentioned. Netanyahu in an announcement, mentioned these towers coming down was “only a begin.”
“We introduced down 50 terror towers in two days, and that is simply the opening for the impartial operation of the bottom maneuver in Gaza Metropolis,” Netanyahu mentioned because the Gaza Metropolis invasion started.
The U.N. warned in a statement that the operation to grab Gaza Metropolis could be “catastrophic” for civilians.
Displaced Palestinians transfer with their belongings southwards on a street within the Nuseirat refugee camp space within the central Gaza Strip on September 20, 2025, as Israel presses its floor offensive to seize Gaza Metropolis.
Eyad Baba/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
When Netanyahu spoke of the potential deal on Saturday, he once more lauded the sturdy army motion within the metropolis, saying, “Because of the extreme army stress we utilized and the diplomatic stress, Hamas was pressured into agreeing to the plan we offered.”
And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has a number of occasions mentioned the difficulties that lie forward, even when a deal is made to pause or finish the preventing.
He mentioned final month that “when all is alleged and carried out, there may be nonetheless a gaggle referred to as Hamas, which is an evil group that also has weapons and is terrorizing.” He added, “there may be nonetheless the onerous work forward of, as soon as this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a means that gives folks a high quality of life that all of them need.”
“Who’s going to try this?” Rubio added. “Who’s going to pay for it? And who’s going to be in control of it?”
