Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed in a statement that forces had begun "destroying Hamas infrastructure in Gaza City," while eyewitnesses confirmed that the raids primarily targeted towers and residential buildings housing thousands of civilians.
The occupation forces demanded that Palestinians move via Rashid Street to areas south of Wadi Gaza, claiming they were "safe." However, these areas, particularly the Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis, have been repeatedly subjected to heavy shelling, targeting displaced persons' tents and resulting in horrific massacres over the past few months.
Adraee claimed that "350,000 out of a million Palestinians have left Gaza City," while the government media office confirmed that the city is still home to more than one million civilians living under harsh conditions under bombardment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his appearance before the Central Court to answer corruption charges on Tuesday by announcing that the Israeli army had launched a "massive offensive" on Gaza, while Defense Minister Yisrael Katz boasted in a post on Twitter, "Gaza is burning and the army is striking with an iron fist."
"We have launched an intensive operation in Gaza City," Netanyahu was quoted as saying in court by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.
Meanwhile, Katz wrote on his X platform, coinciding with the intensification of the bombing of a large number of inhabited homes, on the heads of the city's residents: "Gaza is burning. The IDF is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure, and its soldiers are fighting to prepare the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent or retreat until the mission is completed," he said.
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This coincided with a violent Israeli assault on Gaza City, where Palestinians endured a bloody night during which 35 people were killed, while others were injured or missing, amid intense aerial and artillery bombardment, and the detonation of explosive robots that destroyed homes and residential buildings northwest of the city.
Over the past few weeks, the occupation forces have intensified their targeting of residential towers and buildings, following the Israeli government's approval, on August 8, of a plan to gradually reoccupy the Gaza Strip, beginning with Gaza City.
On the 11th of the same month, the occupation army launched its attack on the Zeitoun neighborhood in the southeast of the city, later expanding to Sabra and other northern and western neighborhoods, employing a policy of widespread destruction.
According to the Government Media Office, the occupation had completely or partially destroyed more than 3,600 buildings and residential towers by Saturday evening, in addition to approximately 13,000 tents for displaced persons.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and displacement, ignoring international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide left 64,905 Palestinians dead and 164,926 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that killed 425 Palestinians, including 145 children.
