From Doha to Gaza: Israeli army accelerates occupation plan, expands strikes

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Yasmine Jaroudi

Israel's strike on a Hamas leadership meeting in Doha, where officials were discussing a potential prisoner exchange, marked a decisive shift toward an escalating war in Gaza and dashed hopes of a near-term deal.

The operation coincided with Israel's mounting threats to Gaza's residents and the army's boast that it had demolished 50 residential towers in the city within 48 hours, a move it described as the opening stage of its plan to occupy the enclave.

Although Israel's Gaza occupation plan initially envisioned a second phase following the evacuation of one million Palestinians, the military scrapped its timeline and ordered immediate evacuations, estimating that nearly a million people remained in their homes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking from an Israeli Air Force hall, sharpened his rhetoric against Palestinians refusing to flee. As funerals were held Monday for ten Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza and civilians slain in Jerusalem's bus attack, critics replaced his long-standing moniker "Mr. Security" with a new one: "Mr. Death."

The bus attack, described as a ticking bomb threatening Israel's internal security, prompted the military to intensify its grip on Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem, launching sweeping raids and arrests as clashes erupted in several cities.

Israel's heightened crackdown came alongside warnings from its own security services about the resurgence of attacks inside the country, underscoring the deepening escalation that has returned the conflict to what officials described as "the first square of the Al-Aqsa Flood war."