Eyewitnesses and paramedics said Israeli tanks have advanced heavily into the neighborhoods of Sabra, Tal al-Hawa, Sheikh Radwan, and al-Nasr, approaching the heart of Gaza City and the western areas where hundreds of thousands of residents have taken refuge.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing Israeli military vehicles advancing near the UNDP headquarters on Al-Nasr Street, west of the city.
Mecca Tower
In a related development, the Israeli occupation army bombed the Mecca residential tower in the southern Al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City, on Sunday, shortly after receiving an evacuation warning.
Eyewitnesses reported that the Israeli occupation forces targeted the multi-story building, and columns of smoke were seen rising from the site. They explained that the "Mecca Tower" was housing hundreds of displaced Palestinian families, while hundreds of tents sheltering other displaced people were scattered around it, according to eyewitnesses.
About an hour before the attack, the Israeli occupation army warned the tower's residents to evacuate ahead of its planned bombing. This is an escalation of the genocide Tel Aviv has been perpetrating against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for nearly two years. The army also warned Palestinians to head to the Al-Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip.
Despite Israeli claims that Al-Mawasi is a "safe area," it has been subjected to repeated attacks, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Palestinians. The displaced people there live in harsh conditions, lacking basic necessities such as food and water.
On Saturday, the Government Media Office in Gaza said in a statement that Israel had killed 1,903 Palestinian civilians in the central and southern governorates, representing 46% of the total number of martyrs in the Gaza Strip since August 11, as a result of 133 attacks using various types of rockets, bombs, and shells.
Over the past two weeks, the Israeli occupation army has intensified its warnings to Palestinians in Gaza City to leave and head southward, particularly to the Al-Mawasi area, which houses approximately one million displaced Palestinians and lacks even the most basic necessities of life. The area extends from west of Khan Yunis to west of Rafah.
In recent weeks, the Israeli occupation army has destroyed dozens of towers and hundreds of residential buildings across Gaza City, in a policy that government and human rights reports say aims to displace Palestinians and empty the city in preparation for its complete occupation.
On September 21, the Israeli occupation army announced the deepening of its ground operations in Gaza City, as part of a plan approved by its government to gradually occupy the Strip. The plan began implementation on August 11 with a large-scale attack on the city.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 66,005 martyrs and 168,162 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.
