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Scores Killed in Overnight Strikes as Hamas Weighs Gaza Truce Proposal

Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into Rafah have mounted in recent days. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into Rafah have mounted in recent days. Mohammed ABED / AFP
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Scores Killed in Overnight Strikes as Hamas Weighs Gaza Truce Proposal

Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into Rafah have mounted in recent days. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into Rafah have mounted in recent days. Mohammed ABED / AFP

Scores were reported killed in overnight strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, after Hamas said it needed more time to consider a proposal that would halt its war with Israel in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said early Sunday that at least 92 people had been killed overnight, including in what the group's media office said was an Israeli bombardment of a kindergarten in Rafah where displaced people were sheltering, AFP reported.
Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into the southern border city have mounted in recent days, with hundreds of thousands of displaced seeking refuge from the fighting there in makeshift shelters and encampments.
Many made the journey from even harder-hit areas after being told the city was a safe zone, but strikes have continued there as well, with mourners gathering outside a local hospital Saturday to pray for the dead after another bombardment.
"The children were just sleeping and suddenly the bombardment happened. The bedroom fell on my children. God took one of my children and three escaped death," Ahmad Bassam al-Jamal told AFP, his voice breaking. "My child now is a martyr in heaven."
The city that had been home to 200,000 people now hosts more than half of Gaza's population, the United Nations said.
A representative of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA has called Rafah "a pressure cooker of despair", expressing concern for what might happen next.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Thursday that the military -- which began its ground invasion in the territory's north and has gradually advanced south -- "will also reach Rafah".
Civilians who fled to the city have been pushed up against the border with Egypt, trying to avoid areas exposed to bombardment and fighting in nearby Khan Yunis.
"We are exhausted," said displaced Gazan Mahmud Abu al-Shaar, urging "a ceasefire so that we can return to our homes".
Push for a deal
International mediators are making a full-court press to seal a proposed truce deal thrashed out last week in Paris.
But a top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said on Saturday that the proposed framework was missing some details.
Hamas needed more time to "announce our position", Hamdan said, "based on... our desire to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer".
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Hamas also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.
Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 27,238 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory's health ministry.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his fifth crisis visit to the Middle East in the coming days to push for the truce proposal, the State Department has said, and French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is also making a pass through the region, according to a spokesman.
A Hamas source has said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause that would see more aid delivered into Gaza and exchanges of some Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Hamas's leader Ismail Haniyeh has said any ceasefire must lead to "a full withdrawal" of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Domestic pressure
The Israeli government's inability to secure the hostages' release, as well as the intelligence failures that allowed the October 7 attacks to happen in the first place, have led to harsh criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
Hundreds rallied on Saturday night in Tel Aviv at protests calling for early elections and to demand action to free the remaining hostages.
Demonstrations were also held in the northern Israeli port of Haifa and near Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence.
In Tel Aviv, anti-government protester Michal Hadas told AFP that dragging out the conflict only served the interests of government officials, "because as long as the war continues there will be no election".
At the rally for hostages' families, Carmit Palty Katzir, sister of captive Elad Katzir, called for swifter action.
"Every second a deal is not closed, the price goes up. The number of hostages who won't return alive goes up. The number of soldiers risking their lives without a clear plan for the day after goes up," she said.
Fresh Yemen strikes
The war has sent regional tensions soaring, with a surge in attacks by Iran-backed groups in solidarity with Gaza triggering counterattacks by key Israel ally the United States.
The United States and its coalition partner Britain said they struck dozens of targets in Yemen on Saturday night in response to repeated attacks on shipping by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
US forces also struck an additional anti-ship missile in Yemen on Sunday morning that the US Central Command said was ready to be launched towards the Red Sea.
The joint air raids came after a separate wave of unilateral American strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria that were carried out in response to the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28.
The Israeli army, meanwhile, said on Saturday that it had struck more than 3,400 Hezbollah militant targets across southern Lebanon since the start of
the war, as well as more than 50 targets linked to the Iran-backed Hamas allies in Syria.

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Arab World

Israel Ramps up Qassam Killings in Gaza for Fourth Consecutive Day

Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Ramps up Qassam Killings in Gaza for Fourth Consecutive Day

Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinian policemen inspect a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, March 16, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel has stepped up targeted killings of fighters in Gaza for a fourth day in a row, zeroing in on field commanders in the military wings of Palestinian factions, particularly the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, across the north and south of the enclave.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military used a suicide drone to strike a tent in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, killing Mohammed Abu Shahla, a senior field commander in the Khan Younis brigade and its intelligence chief.

A field source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abu Shahla was “the third-ranking figure in the eastern Khan Younis area” and a key figure within the Qassam Brigades due to his military and security experience.

Several civilians were wounded in the strike.

A day earlier, an Israeli drone hit a vehicle carrying Yahya Abu Labda, a Qassam Brigades field commander responsible for logistics and supply in Khan Younis. He was killed along with two others nearby.

Field sources said Abu Labda had also been active in humanitarian work, overseeing projects to establish camps for displaced people and deliver aid. He had received substantial donations from abroad, “which may have contributed to Israel accelerating his targeting,” the sources said.

On Monday, an Israeli drone strike killed Younis Alyan, a field commander in the northern brigade of the Qassam Brigades, firing a single missile that killed him instantly.

The Israeli military said Alyan was in charge of the brigade’s naval force and had led a series of attacks.

Sources within the Qassam Brigades told Asharq Al-Awsat that Alyan had recently been tasked with reorganizing the group’s structure in western Jabalia and had held several roles during and before the war.

On Sunday, an Israeli strike killed seven Hamas police members in a vehicle in the Zawayda area in central Gaza. It later emerged that one of them, Iyad Abu Youssef, was a Qassam Brigades field commander who also served as a Hamas police officer.

According to an Asharq Al-Awsat tally, at least seven field commanders, including company commanders and deputy battalion commanders, have been killed in the past two weeks, among them Alyan, Abu Labda, and Abu Shahla, along with other fighters.

The escalation in Gaza coincided with Israeli killings of two Hamas operatives in Lebanon. One, Wissam Taha, was killed in Sidon and described by the Israeli military as part of a financial network supporting the group. The other, Walid Deeb, was a Hamas official in Lebanon’s refugee camps.

Armed groups backed by Israel have mirrored the campaign. On Tuesday, gunmen tried to kill a Qassam Brigades operative in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

Two assailants opened fire inside a supermarket using a silenced weapon, seriously wounding him before fleeing toward Israeli-controlled areas.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that members of these groups had received advanced training at Israeli military sites and now possess weapons and drones, and are being trained to use them against Hamas operatives.

The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said it had recorded 2,073 violations of a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10. These included 750 shooting incidents, 87 incursions, 973 bombardments and 263 demolitions of homes and buildings.

The violations have killed more than 677 people, including 305 children and women, wounded 1,813 and led to 50 arrests.

Arab World

Israel Army Chief Says West Bank Settler Attacks ‘Ethically Unacceptable’

New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Army Chief Says West Bank Settler Attacks ‘Ethically Unacceptable’

New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)
New settlements near Abu Falah village, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, March 11, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Wednesday criticized a recent rise in settler attacks in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling the violence against troops and civilians "morally and ethically unacceptable".

At least six Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank since the start of March, according to an AFP tally.

"Recently there has been an increase in nationalist crime incidents, some of which are directed against our troops and toward civilian populations," Zamir said, referring to Palestinians living in the territory, as he visited the Central Command.

"It is unacceptable that during a multi-front war the Israeli army is forced to confront a threatening minority from within," he said, adding that the attackers "do not represent the wider population."

"I call on all authorities in the country to act against this phenomenon and stop it before it is too late," he said, in a statement issued by the military.

"Anyone who believes these actions contribute to security is mistaken -- they are morally and ethically unacceptable and cause extraordinary strategic damage to the efforts of the army," he said.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war. It has continued despite the ceasefire and spiked since the start of the war against Iran.

Alongside roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

While most Israeli settlers do not engage in violence, a small but militant fringe has been linked to attacks on Palestinians.

According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians -- many of them gunmen, but also scores of civilians -- in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.

Official Israeli figures say that 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

The current Israeli government, considered one of the most right-wing in the country's history, has fast-tracked settlement expansion and recognized some outposts.

Arab World

Israel Doubles Troops in Hezbollah Fight, Searches Homes in South Lebanon

Israeli soldiers and a bulldozer conduct an operation in a southern Lebanese village along the border, as seen from a position in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on March 18, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers and a bulldozer conduct an operation in a southern Lebanese village along the border, as seen from a position in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on March 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Doubles Troops in Hezbollah Fight, Searches Homes in South Lebanon

Israeli soldiers and a bulldozer conduct an operation in a southern Lebanese village along the border, as seen from a position in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on March 18, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers and a bulldozer conduct an operation in a southern Lebanese village along the border, as seen from a position in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel on March 18, 2026. (AFP)

Israel has more than doubled the number of troops along its border with Lebanon since March 1 and they are searching homes in southern Lebanese villages that the military has ordered evacuated, a senior Israeli commander said on Wednesday.

As Israeli warplanes pound Beirut in operations against Hezbollah that have become the deadliest spillover of the US-Israeli war on Iran, heavy smoke could be seen rising from villages in southern Lebanon as troops fired artillery across the border.

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon since Israel ordered people to clear the area south of the Litani River, viewed by Israel as a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah. The group has been firing rockets toward Israel since joining the war in support of Iran on March 2.

'DEFENSIVE POSITIONS' INSIDE LEBANON

"The plan is to make sure that Hezbollah does not have military infrastructure," said the commander, whose name was withheld by the Israeli military on security grounds.

Speaking to Reuters in Eilon, an ‌Israeli town four kilometers ‌from the border, the commander, who is responsible for infantry warfare in Lebanon, declined to ‌say ⁠how many troops Israel ⁠had now deployed in the area.

Describing the military's fortifications inside Lebanon as "defensive positions", he said troops were searching "the villages to see if Hezbollah hid weapons or communications centers".

Asked if that included searching houses that residents had fled following Israeli orders, the commander said: "In some of the cases they hid their weapons in houses. We have no choice but to make sure that house is not a military installation."

Hezbollah has publicly denied using civilian infrastructure to store weapons. It accuses Israel of destroying homes to prevent Lebanese from returning, something Israel denies. Many villages in southern Lebanon have been completely destroyed.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of operations ⁠in southern Lebanon, the Israeli military says.

At least 968 people in Lebanon have been ‌killed since the start of Israel's attacks, Lebanese authorities say.

Hezbollah has not provided ‌regular updates on deaths among its fighters. On Monday, a Hezbollah official told Reuters that at least 46 had been killed so far.

LEBANESE ‌VILLAGE OF KHIYAM AN INITIAL TARGET

The Israeli military is advancing slowly through southern Lebanon, aiming to completely clear the ‌town of Khiam as a first step before advancing toward the Litani River, according to a Lebanese security source and a foreign official tracking developments on the ground.

In response to a question on whether Israel intended to establish positions up to the Litani, the commander said it was not his decision. If troops receive orders, he added, they are "prepared to do all kinds of operations".

The Israeli military did not ‌immediately comment on its operations in Khiam, five kilometers inside the Lebanese border from the Israeli town of Metula.

Along the border near Metula, Reuters saw several Israeli military fortifications dug ⁠into hillsides, filled with rows ⁠of tanks, armed personnel carriers, and bulldozers.

Smoke rose from Khiam throughout the day on Wednesday, and many of the buildings on the southern side of the town had been reduced to rubble. A neighboring town remains in ruins from Israel's attacks in 2024.

'EVERY FIVE MINUTES YOU CAN HEAR THE BOMBS'

Israel's northern border area with Lebanon is known as the Upper Galilee, its rolling hills offering vantages into southern Lebanese villages now occupied and bombarded by Israeli troops.

Near Metula, Israeli Apache helicopters and jets were making near-constant sorties on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the sounds of rocket fire from Lebanon interspersed with the booms of Israeli artillery fire.

For residents of Israel's far north, the current war with Hezbollah has seen less rocket fire than during a year of fighting that ended in 2024.

Hezbollah's ability to launch missiles has largely been degraded, but it still retains capacity to strike areas deep inside Israel, Israeli officials say.

Ofer Moskovitz, 60, who works at an avocado farm in the area, and said being so close to the border meant he had little time to run to a bomb shelter when sirens signaled incoming Hezbollah fire.

Near his farm, the military dug out a muddy fortification from where troops fired artillery across the border.

"Every five minutes you can hear the bombs," he said.