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Israel Steps up Gaza City Bombing After Netanyahu Vows to Expand the Offensive 

Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Steps up Gaza City Bombing After Netanyahu Vows to Expand the Offensive 

Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)

Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the enclave "fairly quickly".

An airstrike also killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, in a tent at the Al Shifa Hospital compound.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families out of their homes westwards.

Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Palestinian group Hamas is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave's northern edges.

The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas fighters in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which is not expected to begin in the coming weeks.

"It sounded like the war was restarting," said Amr Salah, 25. "Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The Israeli military said its forces on Sunday dismantled a launch site east of Gaza City, which Hamas used to fire rockets towards Israeli communities across the border.

Netanyahu on Sunday said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive.

"I want to end the war as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to shorten the schedule for seizing control of Gaza City," he said.

Netanyahu on Sunday said the new offensive will focus on Gaza City, which he described as Hamas' "capital of terrorism". He also pointed to a map and indicated that the coastal area of central Gaza may be next, saying Hamas fighters have been pushed there too.

The new plans have raised alarm abroad. On Friday, Germany, a key European ally, announced it would halt exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. Britain and other European allies urged Israel to reconsider its decision to escalate the Gaza military campaign.

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, ignited the war.

JOURNALISTS KILLED

The airstrike that killed Al Jazeera's Anas Al-Sharif and four of his colleagues at Al Shifa Hospital was the deadliest for journalists in the conflict so far and was condemned by journalists and rights groups.

Medics at the hospital said on Monday that local freelancer Mohammad Al-Khaldi had also died in the attack, raising the number of dead journalists from the same strike to six.

Al-Sharif had previously been threatened by Israel, which confirmed it had targeted and killed him, alleging he had headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel. Al Jazeera rejected the claim, and before his death, Al-Sharif had also rejected Israeli allegations that he had links to Hamas.

Hamas, which runs Gaza, linked his killing to the new planned offensive.

"The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain pave the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City," it said.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed in almost two years of war. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed.

Hamas-led fighters triggered the war in October 2023, when they stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 are thought to be alive.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel's campaign, according to Gaza health officials. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced multiple times and its residents are facing a humanitarian crisis, with swaths of the territory reduced to rubble.

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Arab World

At Least 5 Dead in Fresh Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon Despite Ceasefire

19 June 2026, Lebanon, Sojoud: Smoke billows frorm an Israeli air strike on alleged Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Sojoud. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
19 June 2026, Lebanon, Sojoud: Smoke billows frorm an Israeli air strike on alleged Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Sojoud. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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At Least 5 Dead in Fresh Israeli Strikes on South Lebanon Despite Ceasefire

19 June 2026, Lebanon, Sojoud: Smoke billows frorm an Israeli air strike on alleged Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Sojoud. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
19 June 2026, Lebanon, Sojoud: Smoke billows frorm an Israeli air strike on alleged Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Sojoud. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

At least five people were killed in Israeli air strikes and drone attacks in southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanese state media reported, just hours after a ceasefire between Israel ⁠and Hezbollah took effect.

State news agency NNA said Israeli warplanes and drones carried out a series of strikes across ⁠the Nabatieh area overnight and into Saturday morning, destroying residential buildings and homes, while Israeli artillery shelled Nabatieh and its outskirts before dawn.

Three people were killed in strikes on the town of Arab Salim, while one person was killed in Deir Zahrani, and another after "an enemy drone launched a strike on a motorbike" at the entrance of the town of Dweir, NNA said.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to the ceasefire on Friday following an escalation in hostilities ⁠in ⁠Lebanon, according to a US official.

A senior Israeli official and two Hezbollah sources confirmed the agreement to Reuters. The US official said the truce was to begin at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday.

Arab World

Lebanese, Int’l Contacts Contain South Lebanon Security Deterioration

A giant portrait of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hangs at the northern entrance to Sidon, as cars carrying displaced people from southern Lebanon head toward Beirut. (EPA)
A giant portrait of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hangs at the northern entrance to Sidon, as cars carrying displaced people from southern Lebanon head toward Beirut. (EPA)
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Lebanese, Int’l Contacts Contain South Lebanon Security Deterioration

A giant portrait of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hangs at the northern entrance to Sidon, as cars carrying displaced people from southern Lebanon head toward Beirut. (EPA)
A giant portrait of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun hangs at the northern entrance to Sidon, as cars carrying displaced people from southern Lebanon head toward Beirut. (EPA)

Lebanese and regional contacts contained a sharp deterioration in Lebanon’s security situation after a major military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, and threats by Tel Aviv to escalate further.

Lebanese sources said Israel was seeking to undermine the ceasefire agreement, pressure Lebanese negotiators ahead of a fifth round of talks with Lebanon in Washington, and secure gains on the ground.

Reuters quoted a US official as saying Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to a ceasefire starting at 4 p.m. local time, after a major escalation that killed 47 Lebanese, including children and civilians, and four Israeli soldiers in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The Israeli air force carried out more than 150 strikes in southern and eastern Lebanon.

“Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire,” the US official said, adding that US and Qatari negotiators reached the agreement with help from Iran.

“We understand that after the exchange of fire earlier today, Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ceasefire,” the official said.

Israel and Hezbollah both said they were ready to respect the ceasefire and respond to violations.

Lebanese and international contacts

The security deterioration triggered a flurry of regional, international and local contacts.

Official sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “began a series of international contacts in the morning with influential countries to lower the escalation, prevent further deterioration and ensure commitment to the ceasefire.”

The contacts focused mainly on the United States and Qatar.

Aoun also condemned “the continuing Israeli escalation.”

“What we are witnessing today in the south and the Bekaa, with the expansion of Israeli attacks and further killing and destruction, is a dangerous and condemnable escalation, especially as it has affected dozens of innocent people, including women and children,” Aoun said.

He said the escalation “effectively targets all ongoing efforts to consolidate the ceasefire and end the war, especially after the latest developments between the US and Iran.”

“But this will not prevent work to achieve a comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible. This is what I instructed the Lebanese negotiating delegation to pursue in the next round in Washington,” he said.

“There can be no leniency on this issue because a comprehensive ceasefire is the entry point for discussing other issues, most importantly the Israeli withdrawal, the deployment of the army and the return of prisoners.”

On the international level, Hezbollah parliamentary bloc member MP Hassan Fadlallah said Iran had informed the group that negotiations with the United States could not continue without the implementation of a comprehensive ceasefire.

Fadlallah urged the Lebanese government to reject any direct negotiations with Israel while Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue. He said Washington was responsible for ensuring Israel stops its attacks and implements the terms of the agreement.

Geographic expansion and pressure on Lebanon

The sudden deterioration appeared to signal an Israeli attempt to bypass the agreement that took effect last Monday.

Sources in the Shi’ite duo told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel was “pressuring to strike the agreement directly and target it.” They said Tel Aviv was also trying to pressure the Lebanese negotiator before the fifth round of direct negotiations with Israel opens in Washington next Tuesday. The talks are due to run for three days.

The sources said Israel was trying to “seize additional cards with which to pressure Lebanon.”

They cited “an Israeli desire for geographic expansion after its failure to achieve a major expansion during 110 days of war.” The area where Israel made significant advances in the first weeks of the war, they said, was the same area Hezbollah evacuated and where it committed to restricting weapons to the Lebanese state.

But attempts to expand beyond that area “met fierce resistance that slowed the push,” the sources said.

The source said a fourth reason was “an internal crisis linked to the rising far-right mood in Israel,” adding that “military failure is driving it to target civilians in Lebanon.”

Ceasefire before any arrangements

Lebanese observers say Israel’s failure to abide by the ceasefire agreement is not driven only by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sense of being “sidelined” after the agreement was signed.

They say Israel is also trying to reach an agreement with the Lebanese state in exchange for withdrawal from occupied territory, and to begin disarming Hezbollah in exchange for halting the escalation.

Hezbollah rejects this. The group is relying on US-Iranian understandings and continues to criticize the Lebanese state’s negotiating track.

Still, Lebanese authorities are proceeding with the sessions scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the instructions to the negotiating delegation are clear: demand a full and comprehensive ceasefire before discussing any other arrangements.

The sources said Beirut “is holding to its demands.”

Singling out Lebanon

Hezbollah, however, rejects the direct negotiating track.

Sources following Hezbollah’s escalation against the track said the group “believes there is an overlap of interests between Tel Aviv and the state within the framework of the track on which the state is relying to achieve withdrawal and a ceasefire.”

The sources said Hezbollah believes the direct negotiating track rests on the view that Israel is uncomfortable with US performance in the agreement with Iran, while Lebanon is uncomfortable with Iran’s performance.

They said Hezbollah had “sensed that Lebanon was being singled out” through the US statement issued after the first negotiating session. This, they said, was reinforced in the declaration of intent paper in the fourth round, which appeared to show bias toward Israel in the negotiations.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said: “The authorities agreed to a joint statement with the Americans and Israelis containing language to the effect that Hezbollah is a common enemy of Israel, America and Lebanon. This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while the Lebanese delegation did not utter a word. No Lebanese official in power objected to this language. Therefore, what is required from them is a position clarifying whether they agree with this language or not.”

He called on Lebanese officials “to bridge the gap they created with the resistance and its public, and to bridge the gap they created with the Islamic Republic of Iran, for Lebanon’s interest and not for Iran’s interest.”

Arab World

US, Domestic Pressures Seen Behind Baghdad Dismissals

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
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US, Domestic Pressures Seen Behind Baghdad Dismissals

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi meets US envoy Tom Barrack in Baghdad, June 16, 2026. Iraqi government media/Handout

A shake-up by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi in security and economic posts has raised questions over the messages he is trying to send: is he seeking to redraw the balance of power inside the state, or responding to external demands tied to his expected visit to the United States next month?

The moves came as talks to complete the cabinet lineup were still under way, giving them added political weight. Iraqi prime ministers have often avoided sweeping decisions in sovereign institutions before fully securing their governments, wary of clashing with the political forces that have anchored the system since 2003.

The changes touched some of the state’s most sensitive institutions, including the National Security Service and the central bank.

Supporters say the move shows a push to bring in new faces and project the prime minister’s ability to act independently. Critics say some of the decisions amount to recycling familiar figures within the ruling system.

Coordination Framework reaction

What drew more attention than the reshuffle itself was the response from the main political forces, especially the Coordination Framework, which backed al-Zaidi’s rise to office.

So far, there has been no strong public objection, although the decisions affected figures long tied to centers of influence inside the state.

Yassin al-Bakri, a political science professor at Al-Nahrain University, said the steps carried several messages at once. He described them as an early show of force, a test of political reactions and an attempt to present al-Zaidi as a figure able to move from business into the management of Iraq’s complex political balances.

Al-Bakri told Asharq Al-Awsat that the prime minister had stepped into an area several predecessors had avoided by moving to reorder influential posts before completing his cabinet.

That could give him wider room to negotiate over the remaining ministries, especially the Interior Ministry, which remains contested by several political parties.

Between home and abroad

The timing of the decisions carries added weight as al-Zaidi’s expected visit to the United States approaches, along with an anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump next month.

Observers believe the changes may be meant to reassure Washington that the new government is ready to take steps on institutional reform and strengthening state authority, especially after meetings al-Zaidi held with US officials in recent weeks.

Basil Hussein, head of the “Kloatha” center for studies, said the timing of the changes, alongside a meeting with US envoy Tom Barrack, makes it difficult to dismiss the possibility that they are linked to understandings with Washington.

But Hussein said a broader reading also suggests that al-Zaidi is trying to reshape what he called the “hard core” of the security and financial agencies, ensuring their loyalty to the prime minister’s office rather than to the political forces that brought them in.

Under this reading, the reassignment of some figures affected by the reshuffle suggests the prime minister is trying to gradually loosen existing networks of influence without directly confronting powerful forces inside the Coordination Framework. But this view is weakened by the fact that some dismissed figures were replaced by others from the same party-linked circles or their allies.

Analysts are divided over whether al-Zaidi’s decisions mark the start of a confrontation with the political class or merely a calculated maneuver within existing understandings.

On one hand, his background as a businessman and his previous ties with influential actors give him deep knowledge of the system’s power centers and weak points. That could give him more room to maneuver than some of his predecessors had.

On the other hand, the limits of that room remain tied to several factors: the outcome of his expected visit to Washington, the level of external support he may secure and the willingness of Iraqi political forces to adapt to his efforts to redistribute influence inside state institutions.

Some decisions also looked, to observers, more like political settlements than a rupture. Influential figures were moved to other posts rather than pushed out entirely, suggesting the continued need to preserve the balances that govern Iraq’s political system.

In the end, al-Zaidi’s changes look like an early test of the limits of executive power in Iraq. They carry reformist elements and messages of strength, but they have not yet amounted to a break with the forces that brought him to power.