Israel’s defence minister has said “Gaza is burning” as he announced the beginning of the Israeli military’s long-awaited ground operation into Gaza City on Tuesday.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at his ongoing corruption trial, said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had launched a “significant operation in Gaza”.
The ground operation will see Israeli forces push into the urban heart of the war-torn strip, a month after Netanyahu’s ministers approved a “full takeover” of the city that is expected to trigger the mass displacement of Gaza’s remaining population.
Over the past month, the IDF has encircled Gaza City, laying the groundworks for its offensive in the suburban areas of Zeitoun, Jabalia, Sabra, Shejaiya and Tuffah. For weeks, hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents have been leaving the region following Israeli evacuation notices.
Residents said bombardment of the city has ramped up dramatically over the past two days, with heavier explosions destroying dozens of homes and naval boats joining tanks and planes in the bombardment of the coast.
“Gaza is burning,” defence minister Israel Katz posted on X. “The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
In the past month alone, around 150,000 movements of displaced people were recorded from north to south. More than 70,000 displaced people have headed south over the past few days alone in the direction of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis, according to a UN OCHA spokesperson.
Palestinians of Gaza City have been told to move south to al-Mawasi, which has been struck by Israeli airstrikes despite being declared a “humanitarian zone”.
Conditions are so desperate at al-Mawasi that some children had been killed there while collecting water, Unicef has said. Meanwhile, some people who fled Israel’s new offensive on famine-struck Gaza City in recent days are heading back towards the falling bombs after seeing the situation at the camp.
People are fleeing using the Al-Rashid Road, the only available route for movement to the south, which has become extremely congested, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said.
Nedal Hamdouna, who has had to move with his family from Beit Lahia in the north to Deir al-Balah down south, told The Independent: “Even getting south is dangerous and expensive. You first have to find a driver with a working car. That alone costs hundreds of dollars, even just for a few hours’ drive down Rashid Street, a coastal road and the only way to the south now.
“Fuel is prohibitively expensive, a litre of fuel now costs 100 shekels (around £22), which I’m told is 16 times the price in the UK. Some people use synthetic homemade fuel by burning plastic, which costs 50 shekels per litre, but it is dangerous and toxic.”
The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee told Gaza’s residents: “The defence army has begun destroying Hamas’s infrastructure in Gaza City.
“Gaza City is considered a dangerous combat zone, and staying in the area puts you at risk. Move as quickly as possible via Al-Rashid Street to the areas designated south of the Gaza Valley by vehicle or on foot. Join the more than 40 per cent of the city’s residents who have left the city to ensure their safety and the safety of their loved ones.”
The IDF issued a city evacuation order on 10 September, but the military has also recently issued evacuation orders for individual buildings. So far, several high-rise buildings have been targeted as the IDF claimed they posed a direct threat to the defence forces.
The latest action in Israel’s war, where more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 2023, comes as a two-year United Nations investigation has found that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had “flagrantly disregarded” international law and “orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now”.
This marks the first time a UN body has reached such a conclusion, and is “the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date”, its authors have said.
