Israel continues attacking Gaza despite Trump order to 'immediately' stop

Israel continued military operations in Gaza on Saturday even after US President Donald Trump ordered them to "immediately" stop their assault on the enclave.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israel carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the strip.

Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.

"The situation is very serious in Gaza City," he said, adding that his teams were not able to reach all the casualties due to the "presence of tanks and the ongoing bombardment".

Gaza City's Baptist Hospital said it received at least four dead from a strike on a home in Tuffah neighbourhood, while Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis reported two children killed and eight people wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced people.

The Israeli military issued a statement in Arabic on Saturday warning residents of Gaza City not to return to the area as it was continuing its operations.

"The IDF [Israeli military] troops are still operating in Gaza City, and returning to it is extremely dangerous," the military's Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said on X. 

"For your safety, avoid returning north or approaching areas of IDF troop activity anywhere - including in the southern Gaza Strip."

On Friday, Hamas agreed to release all Israeli captives held in Gaza after what it described as "in-depth consultations" with leadership ranks, Palestinian factions and mediators.

Trump, on his TruthSocial account, responded by demanding that Israel stop bombing Gaza immediately so the captives could be delivered safely.

Trump's response took Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by surprise, Washington correspondent for Israel's Channel 12 Barak Ravid reported, quoting a senior Israeli official. 

Hamas did not state that it agreed to the 20-point plan for Gaza presented by Trump earlier this week, and repeatedly said that it needed to negotiate a number of points further. 

Key among them is the demand for a demilitarised Gaza.

No disarmament during occupation

Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that the group would not disarm before the Israeli occupation ends.

"The other issues mentioned in President Trump's proposal regarding the future of the Gaza Strip and the inherent rights of the Palestinian people are linked to a comprehensive national position based on relevant international laws and resolutions, and are being discussed within a national framework," the Hamas statement said. 

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Saturday that Egypt would organise a conference for Palestinian factions to decide on the post-war future of the Gaza Strip.

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The official said Egypt would host an "intra-Palestinian dialogue on Palestinian unity and the future of Gaza, including its administration".

Despite the reservation from Hamas, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed their positive reaction to Trump's proposal.

"Hamas's stated readiness to release hostages and engage on the basis of the recent proposal is encouraging," von der Leyen wrote on X.

"This moment must be seized. An immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages are within reach."

The 20-point plan proposed by Trump gives general precedence to Israel's framing of the situation in Gaza and its stated security concerns, starting with point 1, which says "Gaza will be a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours".

The plan was widely criticised as "colonial thinking" for attempting to surrender the Palestinian people's fate to foreign interests.

The plan proposed that Gaza would be redeveloped for the "benefit" of the people of Gaza "who have suffered more than enough". Full aid would resume immediately after the acceptance of the agreement by all parties, but caveats the statement with "at a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement".

It adds that the Rafah crossing would also be opened in both directions, in line with the same mechanism as outlined in the January agreement.