Qatar Warns Gaza Ceasefire On Brink Of Collapse After 24 Hours Of Israeli Strikes
Qatar and others are warning that the status of the over month-long Gaza ceasefire is precarious, and faces imminent collapse, after Israel mounted large-scale airstrikes on some areas of the Gaza Strip starting Wednesday. There have been several episodes of brief assaults over the past month, but the situation is escalating fast once again.
Some attacks have continued into Thursday, killing at least 32 Palestinians since the renewed assaults began. It all started after the Israeli army (IDF) said its troops in Khan Younis were fired upon, allegedly by Hamas or other Palestinian militants. But the IDF confirmed there were no troop casualties as a result.
This new flare-up marks by far the deadliest since the Trump-backed ceasefire went into effect. Hamas in response rejected the allegations of attacking IDF troops and condemned the new Israeli strikes as a "shocking massacre."
Hamas in its statement called the IDF assertions "a flimsy and transparent attempt to justify ongoing crimes and violations." Israel had very soon on the heels of the alleged shooting incident launched airstrikes on Gaza City.
The Wednesday Palestinian death toll from the widespread airstrikes came to at least 28 killed, with a reported 17 of them women and children, according to Palestinian sources. At least three more have been killed in ongoing strikes Thursday in Gaza's south, with at least 88 wounded over the last 24 hours.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry in a statement on its official website said it "strongly condemns the brutal attacks carried out by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip." Doha was a key player in helping mediate the Trump 20-point peace plan.
US officials have also frequently visited southern Israel since the truce went into effect, with the White House having since revealed that Trump 'pressured' Prime Minister Netanyahu to finally accept the plan.
There are some hardliners within Netanyahu's government who want to see the deal collapse, in order to pursue the final complete eradication of Hamas, and to ultimately open up Gaza to Jewish settlement.
Just as things are escalating again in Gaza, despite the fragile truce, IDF attacks are being renewed in southern Lebanon as well:
The Gaza strikes coincided with a barrage of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Wednesday on what the Israeli military said said were Hezbollah sites, including weapons storage facilities. A day earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed 13 people in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, the deadliest of Israeli attacks on Lebanon since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war a year ago.
This week kicked off with the UN Security Council having formally backed the Trump Gaza plan. A resolution was backed by thirteen countries, with no country voting against and Russia and China abstaining.
Gaza authorities said Israel has launched more strikes on the enclave, killing at least three. Meanwhile, Israel's military says its forces have been fired upon again, this time in the West Bank. https://t.co/LCoR1QgZIv
— DW News (@dwnews) November 20, 2025
The UNSC signed off on the establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is included in the 20-point plan, and several countries have sent military representatives to assist.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 11/20/2025 – 11:10