Israel says it began its military operation to take control of Gaza City. This comes after an apparent Hamas attack in Khan Younis targeting Israeli soldiers.

Jerusalem

Israel and Iran have agreed a ceasefire after a twelve day conflict. Meanwhile, Israel strikes in Gaza continue with the humanitarian crisis deepening.

Middle East Conflict

Israel has announced the commencement of the first stages of an expanded ground offensive targeting Gaza City, with the goal of taking control of the area and defeating Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the military to accelerate its operations, while the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) report holding the outskirts of Gaza City and encircling it from multiple directions.

The United Nations Secretary General has called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further casualties. Meanwhile, a proposed ceasefire and hostage exchange deal, mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed to by Hamas, remains under consideration by Israel. The plan would see the release of hostages in phases, but Israel has yet to respond, seeking the return of all hostages simultaneously.

Israel says it began Gaza City expansion

Well, turning now to the situation in the Middle East, where Israel says it's begun the first stages of its expanded ground offensive to take control of Gaza City. This as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his military to shorten timelines for taking control of terror strongholds in the enclave and defeating Hamas. In response, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate ceasefire to avoid what he called the, quote, death and destruction that will come from the operation. And for more on this, I want to bring in CBS News foreign correspondent, Ramey Innocencio. Ramey, good morning. Can you bring us up to speed? What's the latest here? Yeah, Michael, good morning to you. And that announcement from Israel's military of those first stages of its planned attack on Gaza City came right after Hamas militants attacked IDF soldiers in the southern region of Khan Yunis. And these kinds of face-to-face, on-the-ground engagements have become quite rare, as Hamas and other terror groups have been degraded. This here that we're looking at is IDF footage released yesterday from Khan Yunis. Unclear, though, I have to say, if it's from that same attack, but at least you get the idea of the situation on the ground there. The military said about 20 terrorists attacked an IDF structure, and they used machine guns along with anti-tank missiles. Even after that, though, Israel's military spokesman said that we will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City. He also said the IDF is holding the outskirts of Gaza City. And that jives with what our CBS News producer in Gaza told us yesterday, that the IDF has basically encircled the city from the north, the east, and the south. And then just after sunrise this morning, he messaged and said that there was more bombing in the south and the north overnight. And I need to remind, with all this happening, Michael, it really might be easy to forget that there is a ceasefire and hostage deal that is floating around out there that is being discussed. Hamas agreed to that on Monday. That was put forward by Qatar and Egypt. Israel has still not yet replied. In effect, this plan would see about half of all the hostages in Gaza return early on, with then the rest freed after a period of 60 days. But Israel says it wants all 50 hostages, that's dead and alive, returned at the same time. So that plan is still hanging in limbo out there. But as for Israel's offensive on Gaza City that we are still waiting for, we're expecting Cabinet approval quite fast today, potentially tomorrow. But we're told that if it does go into effect, then it might take weeks, if not months, to get going. All right. A lot of developments to keep track of.

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Israel says it began Gaza City expansion

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