Israel’s security cabinet was preparing to meet on Tuesday afternoon, officials said, as the military pushed ahead with a new offensive in Gaza while the fate of a ceasefire proposal remained in doubt.

Amid outrage at home and abroad over the intensifying war, protests began shortly after dawn on Tuesday across Israel. The demonstrations were aimed at pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would release some of the hostages who have been held in Gaza for nearly two years.

“Advancing the plan to conquer Gaza while there is an agreement lying on the table for the Prime Minister’s signature is a stab in the heart of the families and the entire nation,” said Itzik Horn, father of Iair Horn, who was released in February, and of Eitan Horn, who is still held hostage. The brothers were captured in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that started the war.

“Join us today in our collective struggle because only the people will bring them home,” Horn said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of some of the captives.

Three Israeli officials confirmed that the security cabinet meeting, which includes senior ministers and is chaired by Netanyahu, would take place later. It would be the first such meeting since Hamas agreed to the ceasefire proposal last week. But it is not expected that the ministers will endorse the proposal, which has been described as a “partial deal” that would release some hostages immediately, allow more aid into Gaza and provide a path to discussions to end the war.

Israeli officials are instead pushing ahead with an offensive in Gaza City, and have signalled that they want to negotiate a deal that would bring home all hostages at once and disarm Hamas.

One of the three Israeli officials said that the security cabinet would discuss the military operation in Gaza. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

The meeting is set to take place after another deadly day in Gaza, where Israeli military strikes on a hospital killed at least 20 people, including five journalists. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the attack was a “tragic mishap”, and the Israeli military said it was investigating.

International humanitarian law forbids attacks on hospitals, but Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals and other protected spaces as “shields”. Hamas has denied the claims.

“We cannot say it loudly enough: STOP attacks on health care. Ceasefire now!” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, said on social media.

President Donald Trump told journalists on Monday that he was “not happy” about the hospital strike, adding, “We have to end that whole nightmare.”

Trump added that he believed there were fewer than 20 hostages still alive in Gaza. The Israeli authorities have said that the bodies of 30 other hostages are also being held in Gaza. Many Israelis fear that Hamas will kill the remaining hostages if the military operation goes forward.

Hamas camera

An Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital that killed 20 people, including five journalists, was targeting what the military believed was a Hamas surveillance camera, as well as people identified as militants, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

The military issued the statement as part of its initial inquiry into the attack.

New York Times News Service and Reuters