Israel said on Saturday, October 4, its troops were still operating in Gaza and warned residents not to return, despite calls from the families of Israeli hostages and US President Donald Trump for an immediate halt to the fighting. Trump issued the appeal to the key US ally after Palestinian militant group Hamas said it was ready to release all hostages and start talks on the details of his plan to end the nearly two-year war.
But despite Trump’s appeal, Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israel carried out dozens of attacks on Gaza City overnight, with nearby hospitals reporting casualties. “It was a very violent night, during which the (Israeli army) carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the Strip, despite President Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” spokesman Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Bassal, whose agency is a rescue force that operates under Hamas authority, said 20 homes were destroyed overnight.
The Israeli military said it was operating in Gaza City and urged residents not to return. “The IDF (Israeli military) troops are still operating in Gaza City, and returning to it is extremely dangerous. For your safety, avoid returning north or approaching areas of IDF troop activity anywhere – including in the southern Gaza Strip,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X.
Gaza City’s Baptist Hospital said it received casualties from a strike on a home in the city’s Tuffah neighbourhood, including four dead and several wounded. Further south, Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said two children were killed and eight people wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced Gazans. Jamila al-Sayyid, 24, a resident of Gaza City’s Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, said “the bombing was intense throughout the night. I was happy when Trump announced a ceasefire, but the warplanes did not stop.”
An AFP journalist in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi reported hearing celebratory cries of “Allahu akbar!” (God is the greatest) rise from tents housing Palestinians as news of Hamas’s statement spread.
“This is a day of joy, a great day. The war has been raging for two years,” said Sami Adas, 50, who lives in a tent in Gaza City with his family. “The best thing is that President Trump himself announced a ceasefire, and Netanyahu will not be able to escape this time… he is the only one who can force Israel to comply and stop the war.”