Israel launches new offensive in Gaza. At least 115 dead in the last 24 hours. The UN: 'The escalation amounts to ethnic cleansing'

The Israeli military announced that it has launched large-scale attacks and mobilized troops to seize control of areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the preparation for Operation Gideon's Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in the Strip. According to an IDF spokesperson, the operation aims to achieve all the objectives of the war in Gaza, including the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas.

According to a security source, the IDF's bombardment of Gaza is "a final step before the full-blown Gideon's Tanks operation and a warning to Hamas: a last chance to reach an agreement before a dramatic expansion of the fighting," Channel 12 reported.

According to the same source, the attack is intended to "intervene in the area before the troops enter" and will continue in the coming hours. Operation Gideon's Tanks, whose objective is to defeat Hamas in Gaza and free the hostages, was approved by the Israeli political-security cabinet in early May, in accordance with the plans formulated by the chief of staff.

At least 115 Palestinians have been killed since dawn yesterday following attacks by the Israeli army (IDF) in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported the day after the start of a new offensive with large-scale raids on the territory last night. According to the TV station, at least 370 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since last Sunday.

International appeals to stop the bombings and resume humanitarian aid are in vain. Israel continues to pound Gaza with raids that in the last 24 hours alone have caused 90 deaths in the Strip, as part of an escalation of the Jewish offensive that has accumulated hundreds of deaths in recent days, to the point of exceeding the tragic toll of over 53 thousand victims since the beginning of the war, according to Hamas' count.

While the alarm is growing over the humanitarian crisis in the enclave where for over two months now Israel has imposed a blockade of humanitarian aid that forces the Palestinian population to starve. So much so that even the Jewish state's staunch ally, Donald Trump, wanted to intervene: "Many people are dying of hunger," the tycoon acknowledged from Abu Dhabi, the last stop on his tour of the Gulf that did not see a stop by his friend Israel.

"We are keeping an eye on Gaza. And we will address this," he stressed. For weeks, aid agencies have been warning of critical shortages of everything from food to clean water, fuel to medicine. So much so that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, spoke of "a push for permanent demographic change in Gaza, which violates international law and amounts to ethnic cleansing."

Israel has justified its decision to cut off aid to Gaza by seeking to force Hamas to make concessions, while dozens of Israeli hostages remain in the hands of militants in the Strip.

On Monday, the Palestinian group freed Edan Alexander, the last living kidnapped US citizen, after a direct dialogue with Washington. Now, the militants are demanding that Trump honor his end of the deal: Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP that the group "expects the US administration to exert additional pressure" on Israel "to open the crossings and allow the immediate entry of humanitarian aid."

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Strip is rising from the Israeli offensive, which according to the Hamas Health Ministry has killed 2,985 people since the truce broke in mid-March alone, bringing the overall death toll in the war to 53,119 in the Palestinian territory. According to Israeli media, the army has indeed intensified its offensive in line with a plan approved by Netanyahu's government earlier this month, although there has been no formal announcement of an expansion of the campaign.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force has launched a retaliatory strike against the Houthis, after Yemeni rebels sounded an air raid alert in the center of the Jewish state on Thursday following a missile attack that was intercepted by the IDF. Less than 24 hours later, Israeli airstrikes hit the Yemeni ports of Hodeida and Salif, which the Israeli army had called for evacuation on Wednesday, accusing the rebels of using them for "terrorist activities."

And that's not all, "there is still much to do," Netanyahu threatened: "We are not willing to stand aside and let the Houthis attack us. We will hit them much harder, including their leaders and all the infrastructure that allows them to hit us."

'Trump Wants to Move 1 Million Palestinians to Libya'

The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently resettle up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, five people familiar with the matter told NBC News. The plan is so advanced that the administration has already discussed it with the Libyan leadership, NBC adds.