Israel continues Gaza City assault ahead of crucial Trump-Netanyahu meeting

Israeli forces continued their relentless assault on Gaza City on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's crucial meeting with Donald Trump to discuss the US president's Gaza peace plan.

At least 21 Palestinians were killed in a new wave of Israeli attacks across Gaza City on Monday morning, according to medical sources, while heavy gunfire was reported near Al-Shifa hospital in the west of the city.

Large parts of Al-Shifa, the largest hospital still operating in the north, have been destroyed during the course of the war following multiple attacks by Israeli forces amid a new offensive on Gaza City, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and killed or injured thousands. Several of the city's suburbs have been almost entirely razed to the ground.

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday that it had lost contact with a group holding two captives in Gaza City and asked for Israel to halt its air campaign for 24 hours.

This comes a few hours before Trump discusses his 21-point plan to end the war with Netanyahu in the White House.

The plan - which would reportedly see Tony Blair head up a transitional government and gradually replace Israeli troops with an international peacekeeping force - has been denounced by Israel's far-right and has not been presented to Hamas.

Netanyahu is also expected to raise the issue of West Bank annexation, a step his government has threatened to take in response to several Western countries' recognition of Palestinian statehood last week.

At least 66,005 Palestinians have been killed and 168,162 others wounded by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Most of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, while hundreds of thousands of people are on the verge of starvation amid Israel's blockade of the enclave.

West Bank raids after Israeli soldier killed

Israeli forces and settlers launched raids in several areas of the occupied West Bank overnight on Monday, hours after an Israeli soldier was killed by a Palestinian truck driver.

Troops launched raids in the Jalazone camp north of Ramallah and made a number of arrests, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that 15 people were arrested in towns in the Hebron, Ramallah, and El-Bireh governorates

Arrests were also made following raids in the village of Kafr Sur, south of Tulkarem, and the Askar refugee camp near Nablus.

The campaign came after an Israeli staff sergeant was killed near the illegal settlement of Kedumim when a Palestinian truck driver drove into him.

The driver was shot and killed by Israeli forces.