JERUSALEM: Israel’s defence minister told Hamas on Monday (Sep 8) to lay down its arms or face annihilation, after US President Donald Trump said the militant group must accept a deal to release hostages in Gaza.
In Israel-annexed East Jerusalem, gunmen opened fire at a bus stop and killed five people, according to Israel’s emergency service, in one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war in Gaza began.
In Gaza City, the civil defence agency said Israeli attacks killed 10 people overnight, after at least 48 others were killed across the territory on Sunday. 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.
“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 Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X.
Israel has stepped up operations, levelling high-rise buildings in Gaza City which it has vowed to capture, despite mounting international pressure to stop the war.
In Gaza City on Monday, bereaved father Issa Suleiman carried the body of his one-year old son, wrapped in a white shroud.
“We were sleeping in the tent with my three children and my wife,” he told AFP, adding that five of his neighbours were killed and several seriously injured, including his wife and mother.