Israel has launched its ground offensive in Gaza City following widespread international condemnation that its military takeover could “lead to more death, destruction and mass displacement.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians based in the heart of the war-torn strip are expected to be ordered to evacuate in a move that could force the entire enclave’s population further south.
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) brigadier general Effie Defrin said troops have begun circling the outskirts of Gaza City as part of the first stages of its new offensive. This follows a clash with Hamas in the southern part of Khan Younis on Wednesday, after which the IDF spokesperson said: “We will deepen the attack on Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organisation.”
Israel’s military has already started to lay down groundwork for the siege in Zeitoun and Jabaliya, as an official said they planned to target Hamas’ underground tunnels.
Hamas, in a statement on Telegram, accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing a ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a “brutal war against innocent civilians in Gaza City.”
What is Israel doing in Gaza
Netanyahu originally announced plans for a military takeover of the war-torn strip earlier this month, starting with Gaza City, Hamas’ military and governing stronghold and one of the last places of refuge in the northern Strip, with hundreds of thousands of people sheltering there.
A siege on Gaza City is the first part of plans approved by Israel’s security cabinet to take full military control of Gaza and force the entire 2.3 million population south. On Wednesday, the prime minister’s office announced Netanyahu “has directed that the timetables… be shortened” in launching the offensive.
Israel’s military is calling up 60,000 reservists as part of the expanded military operation in Gaza City. The plan includes extending the service of 20,000 additional reservists who are already on active duty.
More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry. One in five children in Gaza is malnourished, according to the UN, while tens of thousands rely on food from charity kitchens that can provide only one meal a day.
What is happening on the ground
The latest offensive will see troops operating in parts of the city where they have yet to be deployed and where Israel believes Hamas is still active, according to an Israeli military official.
Troops in the city’s Zeitoun neighbourhood and in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in the north of Gaza, have started preparing the groundwork for the expanded operation. Hundreds of Palestinians in Zeitoun and Sabra have left towards the north-western part of the city, after describing relentless bombing overnight into Thursday.
Ahmad al-Shanti told AFP: “The house shakes with us all night long… the sound of explosions, artillery, warplanes, ambulances, and cries for help is killing us.”
Israel has been intensifying its attacks on Gaza City in the days running up to its planned military takeover. At least seven people were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported, while thousands of families fled Zeitoun, Sabra, Remal and Tuffa.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops clashed with more than 15 Hamas militants who emerged from tunnel shafts and attacked with gunfire and anti-tank missiles near Khan Younis, south of Gaza City.
One soldier was severely wounded while two were lightly injured, according to the Israeli military
In a statement, Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed carrying out a raid on Israeli troops southeast of Khan Younis and engaging Israeli troops at point-blank range. It said one fighter blew himself up among the soldiers, causing casualties, during an attack that lasted several hours.
Israel’s military campaign has caused widespread devastation across the Gaza Strip, which before the war was home to about 2.3 million Palestinians. Many buildings including homes, schools and mosques have been destroyed, while the military has accused Hamas of operating from within civilian infrastructure, which Hamas denies.
Israeli officials have said evacuation orders would be issued to Gaza City residents before any force moves in.
What is happening in the West Bank
An Israeli settlement plan that is set to bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem has been approved, Israel’s far-fight finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said.
The approval of the E1 project, which has been widely condemned, was announced last week by Smotrich and received the final go-ahead from a defence ministry planning commission.
“With E1, we are delivering finally on what has been promised for years,” Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist in the ruling right-wing coalition, said in a statement. “The Palestinian state is being erased from the table, not with slogans but with actions.”
Part of the plan will see over 3,000 houses for Israeli settlers built between an existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israel had previously frozen construction plans there since 2012 following objections from the United States, European allies, and other world powers who considered the project a threat to any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
What has the reaction been
Rights groups and world leaders have warned that an expanded assault in the Gaza Strip could deepen the crisis, as already most of the roughly 2 million inhabitants have been displaced, many areas have been reduced to rubble, and the population faces the threat of famine.
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.
“It is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza,” to avoid the death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would cause, Guterres said in Japan where he is attending a conference on African development.
He also called on Israel to reverse a decision to expand “illegal” settlement construction in the West Bank.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday the conquest of Gaza City “risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war” and called for an international peacekeeping force to be deployed in Gaza.
Belgium’s foreign ministry urged Israel “to reverse its decision to outroll operation ‘Gideon Chariots II,’” referring to the planned Gaza City siege, adding it would “lead to more death, destruction and mass displacement.”
And Mr Netanyahu is also facing objections from Israelis themselves. Last weekend hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out in Tel Avi calling for an end to the war and the release of the hostages. Further demonstrations are planned to take place in the coming days.
