Gaza City pushed to the brink by Israeli offensive
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Tuesday. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
Thousands have been forced to flee Gaza City following Israel’s ground offensive, the BBC reported on September 24th.
According to the UN, Israel’s Gaza City offensive has caused nearly 250,000 Palestinians to flee, all the while, the Israeli military claims to control 40% of the city.
Hamas fighters have reportedly regrouped as fears of fierce street-to-street fighting with the Israeli military grow.
The Hamas military commander, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, is said to have ordered all available fighters across the Gaza Strip to converge on Gaza City in the run up to a “final, decisive battle”.
Israel defines Gaza City as the “last stronghold” of Hamas and asserts it intends to “eliminate terrorists” and save its 48 remaining captives, 20 of which are believed to be alive.
Israeli tanks have been seen at Hamid Junction, which is around 1.5km (0.9 miles) from al-Shifa hospital.
Al-Shifa Medical Complex was forced to cancel dialysis services for patients on July 1st due to depleting fuel supplies. Evacuation orders have also been issued to residents of Gaza by Israel’s army.
The plan to take control of Gaza City was given the green light by Israel’s security cabinet during the night of August 7th-8th.
The Israeli army said it was “preparing to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones.”
Far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged the Israeli government to reject a short-term ceasefire proposal, which was accepted by Hamas on August 18th.
Smotrich urged the government not to “give in” to peace talks, saying on social media that Israel must “continue to the end, win and bring back all the hostages in one go.”
Ben-Gvir stated: “I say to the prime minister: you have no mandate to go for a partial deal and not decisively defeat Hamas.”
The Israeli military has stated that its troops have been “operating on the outskirts of Gaza City to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites above and below ground.”
Hamas reportedly expressed a willingness to release the remaining Israeli hostages earlier this month, although the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the move as mere spin.
Palestinians in Gaza City demonstrated against Israel’s expulsion orders on September 8th; participants held up signs that said: “We will not be displaced. Stop our extermination.”
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City on September 14th, according to Palestinian officials, as part of a plan to displace the city’s one million inhabitants to Gaza’s south.
On September 17th, Gaza’s civil defence agency confirmed that at least 64 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes, with 41 of them being killed in Gaza City.
BBC, Maghrebi.org
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