Israel Declares Gaza City a 'Dangerous Combat Zone'

Israel on Friday declared Gaza's largest city a dangerous combat zone and said it was in the "initial stages" of a planned offensive as grief spread over the return of two hostages' bodies. Israel said its military had recovered the bodies of two hostages, including an Israeli man who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, the AP reports. The bodies of Ilan Weiss of Kibbutz Be'eri and another unnamed hostage were returned to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.

• The Israeli military announced the resumption of around-the-clock fighting, saying it had suspended midday pauses to fighting, which had allowed food and aid supplies to enter from 10am to 8pm. In a post on X, the IDF said the "pause will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone," the Guardian reports. Israel introduced "tactical pauses" in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and Muwasi last month as it faced global condemnation over humanitarian conditions in the besieged strip.

• Friday's announcement marks the latest escalation after Israel has reported strikes in some of the city's key neighborhoods and called up tens of thousands of reservists. "We will intensify our strikes until we bring back all the kidnapped hostages and dismantle Hamas," Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said.
• Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, has for days urged Palestinians in Gaza City to flee south, calling the evacuation "inevitable," even as aid groups warn of severe obstacles. The United Nations said Thursday that 23,000 people had evacuated over the past week, but many Palestinians in Gaza City have said they are exhausted after multiple displacements and questioned leaving when there is nowhere safe and any journey is costly.

• Israel's Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which has organized large-scale protests demanding a ceasefire to return the hostages, mourned the losses and said Israeli leaders should prioritize a deal to return both the living and the dead. "We call on the Israeli government to enter negotiations and stay at the table until every last hostage comes home. Time is running out for the hostages. Time is running out for the people of Israel who carry this burden," it said in a statement. Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas almost 22 months ago, roughly 50 remain in Gaza, including 20 that Israel believes to be alive.
• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz extended his "deep condolences" to the family of Weiss, the Times of Israel reports. The 55-year-old was a member of Kibbutz Be'eri's emergency squad. Weiss "bravely managed the defensive battle in Be'eri and prevented an even greater disaster, alongside other heroes," Katz said.