Thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza City, as the Israeli military continued its assault on the enclave ahead of a planned occupation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to give final approval on Thursday for plans to take over Gaza City, an operation that could start within days. The widening of the 22-month offensive against Hamas appears to be proceeding despite protests in both Israel and the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli strikes meanwhile killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. A renewed offensive could bring even more casualties and displacement to the territory, where the war has already killed tens of thousands and where experts have warned of imminent famine.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X that Israeli forces had begun warning medical teams in northern Gaza that residents should prepare to move south.
Describing the intense overnight shelling before a medical aid point was forced to close in the city on Tuesday, staff member Shireen Halasa said: “It was a terrifying night. The shelling did not stop for a single moment.
“My heart almost stopped. We were treating around 100 children daily…many suffering from severe malnutrition, but we were forced to close while running for our lives.”
Israeli troops have established a foothold on the city’s outskirts, with an IDF spokesman saying on Wednesday that forces were already operating in Zeitoun and Jabalia as they laid the groundwork for a broader offensive.
Thousands of residents fled the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods after heavy overnight bombardment, while shelling also intensified in the Sabra and Tuffah areas. Around 75 per cent of Gaza is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel.
“We are facing a bitter-bitter situation, to die at home or leave and die somewhere else, as long as this war continues, survival is uncertain,” said Rabah Abu Elias, 67, a father of seven.
“In the news, they speak about a possible truce, on the ground, we only hear explosions and see deaths. To leave Gaza City or not isn’t an easy decision to make.”
Israel has said it would call up to 60,000 reservists for the new offensive and other heavily populated areas of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
Mr Netanyahu’s plan triggered local and global outrage when it was first announced with UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer saying it will “only bring more bloodshed”.
Hamas, in a statement on Telegram, accused the prime minister of obstructing the ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a “brutal war against innocent civilians in Gaza City.”
Hamas has accepted a 60-day ceasefire, which the Israeli government is yet to officially respond to. It calls for the release of 10 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and 18 bodies, in return for about 200 long-serving Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The Israeli government has restated that all of the remaining 50 hostages must be released at once. Israeli officials believe that around 20 of them are still alive.
In Tel Aviv, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on Israeli citizens to protest Thursday evening around Kirya military base to demand an end to the war, ahead of planned nationwide events.
“Forty-two hostages were kidnapped alive and murdered in captivity due to military pressure and delay in signing a deal,” said Dalia Cusnir, whose brother-in-law, Eitan Horn, is still being held captive. Eitan’s brother, Iair Horn, was released during a ceasefire earlier this year.
“Enough to sacrifice the hostages. Enough to sacrifice the soldiers, both regular and reservists. Enough to sacrifice the evacuees. Enough to sacrifice the younger generation in the country,” said Bar Goddard, the daughter of Meni Goddard, whose body is being held by Hamas.
Women and children held placards at a protest in Gaza City reading “Save Gaza” and “Stop the war, stop the savage attack, save us,” against a backdrop of destroyed buildings as Palestinian music played.
“We want the war on Gaza to stop. We don’t want to migrate. Twenty-two months — it’s enough. Enough death. Enough destruction,” said Bisan Ghazal, a woman displaced from Gaza City.
Mr Netanyahu is also under pressure from some ministers to reject a temporary ceasefire and pursue annexation of the territory.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday announced the approval of a controversial settlement project in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank that he said would erase any prospect of a Palestinian state.
In response foreign ministers from Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning the E1 plan. The UK Foreign Office summoned Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely over Tel Aviv’s approval.
As the offensive escalates, the starvation crisis is continuing to unfold in Gaza, with the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry announcing at least two people died from starvation in the last 24 hours and at least 18 people died collecting aid.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency chief said the famine was “deliberate” and warned that malnourished children in Gaza could die without immediate emergency aid during Israel’s Gaza City operation. Just 250 of an expected 1,800 aid trucks entered Gaza over the past three days, Gaza’s government media office said.
More than 62,000 Palestinians have died since 7 October 2023, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry, following the terror group’s massacre of some 1,200 people and the kidnap of around 250 more.
