The Israeli military says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun and warned residents to move south.
JERUSALEM — Gaza City residents say they are being subjected to “heavy, relentless” bombardment amid reports that Israel’s military has expanded its ground offensive. At least 68 people killed by Israeli air strikes across Gaza since dawn on Tuesday.
The Israeli military says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun and warned residents to move south.
It said its intensified operation “to destroy Hamas‘ military infrastructure” has started.
Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adree announced the expansion of Israel’s operation on X on Tuesday morning, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people.
Israel has been warning Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month ahead of a Gaza City operation, but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in Gaza’s south and the high price of transport.
Displaced Palestinians flee southwards in response to Israel’s intensified offensive on Gaza City. — Reuters
Footage circulating on social media shows huge explosions as the Israeli army bombs Tal al-Hawa, a neighbourhood in the south of Gaza City.
The video, posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera, shows huge clouds of smoke and dust rising from the sites of the explosions, which are viewed from streets lined with the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 64,964 people and wounded 165,312 since October 2023. Thousands more are believed to be under the rubble. A total of 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7 attacks, and about 200 were taken captive.
Gaza City evacuation orders constitute ethnic cleansing: sraeli rights groups
Meanwhile, Israeli human rights organisations have called on Israeli officials to cancel the mass evacuation threat for Gaza City, saying such an order constitutes forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.
Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that the organisations, which include the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Physicians for Human Rights, Gisha, and Adalah – the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the threats are intended to “displace an exhausted and starving population that has nowhere to flee”.
It posited that the orders “do not stem from military necessity” and are “contrary to international law” and therefore should not be accepted.
Source: AL JAZEERA & Agencies
