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Israel’s Netanyahu Warns Gaza City Residents to Leave Now

A Palestinian woman reacts as smoke rises, while a residential building collapses after an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian woman reacts as smoke rises, while a residential building collapses after an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel’s Netanyahu Warns Gaza City Residents to Leave Now

A Palestinian woman reacts as smoke rises, while a residential building collapses after an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian woman reacts as smoke rises, while a residential building collapses after an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City, September 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday residents of Gaza City to leave now, hours after Israel said it would ramp up airstrikes on the enclave. 

He said: "I say to the residents of Gaza, I take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned — leave now!” 

Netanyahu said forces are now organizing and assembling into Gaza City for a ground "maneuver". 

Earlier on Monday, Israel's defense minister told Hamas to lay down its arms or face annihilation, after US President Donald Trump said the group must accept a deal to release hostages in Gaza.  

The warnings came as the Israeli military intensified its bombings and operations around Gaza City, which it has vowed to capture in a bid to finally defeat Hamas after nearly two years of devastating conflict.  

At least 48 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza on Sunday, while another 10 were killed in strikes around Gaza City overnight, the civil defense agency reported. AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment. 

Hamas, whose unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war, said shortly after Trump's comments that it was ready for immediate talks, but the terms it gave for a deal appeared largely unchanged from previous rounds of negotiations. 

"This is a final warning to the Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and put down your weapons -- or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X.  

"Today, a massive hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City and the roofs of the terror towers will tremble," he wrote, adding that the military was "preparing to expand" operations to conquer Gaza City.  

Israel has not publicly announced the start of its offensive to seize the city, but on Sunday it bombed a third high-rise in as many days, saying it was being used by Hamas "to monitor the location of... troops in the area".  

Hamas has denied using residential buildings for military purposes.  

Trump said Sunday he was issuing a "last warning" to the group, insisting it accept a deal to release the hostages seized during fighters' October 2023 attack. The Israeli military says 47 hostages remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.  

"The Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning," Trump said on social media, without elaborating further.  

- Ready to negotiate -  

In a statement released shortly after Trump's, Hamas said it was ready to "immediately sit at the negotiating table" following what it described as "some ideas from the American side aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement".  

In exchange, it said it wanted "a clear declaration of the end of the war, a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and the formation of a committee of independent Palestinians to manage the Gaza Strip, which would begin its duties immediately".  

US news outlet Axios reported that White House envoy Steve Witkoff sent a new proposal for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal to Hamas last week.  

The White House has not released any details about the proposal, but late Sunday Trump said "you'll be hearing about it pretty soon", portraying the negotiations in a positive light.  

"I think we're going to have a deal on Gaza very soon," he told reporters.  

In early March, Trump issued a similar ultimatum to Hamas, demanding it free all living hostages immediately and turn over the bodies of the dead, saying if not, "it is OVER for you".  

Hamas agreed last month to a ceasefire proposal that involved a 60-day truce and staggered hostage releases. 

Israel, however, has demanded the group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.  

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.  

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency or the Israeli military. 

 

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Arab World

Israel Strikes Jamaa Islamiya Group’s HQ in Sidon, South Lebanon

Rescue workers gather in front of the destroyed center of the Jamaa Islamiya group which hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March, 3, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers gather in front of the destroyed center of the Jamaa Islamiya group which hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March, 3, 2026. (AP)
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Israel Strikes Jamaa Islamiya Group’s HQ in Sidon, South Lebanon

Rescue workers gather in front of the destroyed center of the Jamaa Islamiya group which hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March, 3, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers gather in front of the destroyed center of the Jamaa Islamiya group which hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, March, 3, 2026. (AP)

Beirut, Lebanon, March 3, 2026 (AFP) - Israel struck a headquarters belonging to the Jamaa Islamiya group, an ally of Hamas and Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on Tuesday, state media reported.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air raid a short while ago, targeting a headquarters of the Jamaa Islamiya" in the coastal city, state media said.

Sidon was largely spared of major Israeli attacks during the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, which a November 2024 ceasefire sought to end.

The strike almost entirely destroyed a seven-storey building, according to an AFP photographer, and ambulances rushed to the scene.

It caused a powerful blast in a densely populated area, as seen on local media.

The Jamaa Islamiya in a statement said no one was killed or wounded in the strike, which it called a "war crime".

The Israeli military then issued an evacuation warning for another building in Sidon, saying it will hit "Hezbollah military infrastructure... in light of its prohibited attempts to rebuild its activities in the area".

The Jamaa Islamiya had previously been the target of Israeli strikes in Lebanon after claiming responsibility for rocket launches towards Israel during the war between Israel and Hezbollah that began in October 2023.

Last month, it accused Israel of seizing one of its officials from a town near the border.

The Israeli military said that it "apprehended a senior terrorist" in the group who was then "transferred for further questioning in Israeli territory".

Arab World

EU Helping Evacuate Citizens from Middle East

European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Hadja Lahbib speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Hadja Lahbib speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
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EU Helping Evacuate Citizens from Middle East

European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Hadja Lahbib speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)
European Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Hadja Lahbib speaks with the media as she arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP)

The European Union has begun helping member countries Italy, Austria and Slovakia repatriate their citizens stranded due to the war in the Middle East, the bloc's crisis management chief told AFP Tuesday.

Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the three countries were the first so far to ask Brussels to assist in funding flights from the region.

Under the EU's "civil protection mechanism" member states can get the bloc's executive to reimburse them for the bulk of the costs.

So far Slovakia has organized two flights in the coming day under the scheme, Austria has asked for space for 90 passengers and Italy is assessing how best to evacuate nationals, Lahbib said.

She said that more countries were expected to activate the mechanism in the coming days.

The US and Israeli attacks on Iran which began on Saturday, followed by Iranian counterattacks on Gulf states and Israel, have led the closure of the airspace of a number of countries.

That has caused the cancellation of at least 12,903 flights between Saturday and Monday, according to Cirium, an aviation data analysis firm, or about 40 percent of planned flights.

Some airlines on Tuesday resumed a limited number of scheduled flights -- but evacuation flights are still set to ferry more stranded passengers out of the region.

A number of EU states have already begun flying out their citizens without asking for assistance from Brussels.

Lahbib estimated that there are a total of some 500,000 EU citizens in the Middle East -- but not all of those were expected to want to leave.

Arab World

Iraqi Government Seeks to Keep Country Out of Iran War Fallout

Al-Sudani chairs a meeting of the National Security Council (Prime Minister’s Office Media).
Al-Sudani chairs a meeting of the National Security Council (Prime Minister’s Office Media).
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Iraqi Government Seeks to Keep Country Out of Iran War Fallout

Al-Sudani chairs a meeting of the National Security Council (Prime Minister’s Office Media).
Al-Sudani chairs a meeting of the National Security Council (Prime Minister’s Office Media).

The government of outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani is working to distance Iraq from the escalating US-Israel war on Iran.

Tehran has responded to the military operation launched by the US and Israel with missile strikes on Gulf states and other locations, including Iraq, saying it is targeting American bases and interests.

Although Iraq has not been directly drawn into the conflict - unlike during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the 1990–1991 Gulf War, or the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein - fear is mounting as the country risks being caught between Iran and its local allies and the broader confrontation involving Washington and Tel Aviv.

There are also concerns that any disruption to Gulf shipping lanes could significantly curtail Iraq’s oil revenues.

Al-Sudani, who also serves as commander in chief of the armed forces, chaired on Monday an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security, according to a statement from his office.

The premier instructed security agencies to prevent any actions that could undermine stability and to ensure that Iraq is not dragged into the conflict. Still, some observers say the government has been unable to stop missile attacks on Iraqi territory.

The government reiterated its commitment to protecting diplomatic missions and critical infrastructure, while affirming that freedom of expression and peaceful assembly remain constitutionally protected rights.

The statement stressed that security forces will continue safeguarding citizens, diplomatic facilities and public and private property, in line with national laws and international obligations.

The remarks appeared to reference attempts Sunday evening by groups linked to Iran-aligned armed factions to approach the US Embassy in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. Security forces stopped them from reaching the compound.

The council added that Iraq remains committed to preventing escalation and ensuring its territory is not used for external or internal conflicts, underscoring that decisions on national security and military action lie solely with the state and its constitutional institutions.

The council also reviewed the potential economic fallout of a prolonged and expanding conflict, particularly the risks associated with a possible closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The bulk of Iraq’s oil exports pass through the Gulf en route to the strategic waterway.

Given the country’s heavy dependence on oil income, any sustained disruption to maritime traffic would pose a serious threat to Iraq’s already fragile economy.