The Israeli military moved
deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, with soldiers and tanks
pushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban centre’s largest
and most crowded neighbourhoods.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have advanced through Gaza
City’s outer suburbs and are now just a few kilometres from the
city centre despite international calls to halt the offensive.
Gaza City residents said the military had destroyed homes
and tent encampments that had housed Palestinians displaced by
nearly two years of war. At least 24 Palestinians, some of them
children, were killed by the military across Gaza on Wednesday,
most of them in Gaza City, according to local health officials.
“Sheikh Radwan is being burnt upside-down. The occupation
destroyed houses, burnt tents, and drones played audio messages
ordering people to leave the area,” said Zakeya Sami, 60, a
mother of five, referring to the Israeli military.
“If the takeover of Gaza City isn\u2019t stopped, we might die,
and we are not going to forgive anyone who stands and watches
without doing anything to prevent our death,” she told Reuters.
The military dropped grenades on three schools in the Sheikh
Radwan area that had been used to shelter displaced
Palestinians, setting tents ablaze, according to residents, who
said the Palestinians fled before the bombing.
The military also detonated armoured vehicles laden with
explosives to destroy homes in Sheikh Radwan’s east and bombed a
medical clinic, destroying two ambulances, according to
witnesses.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday it
would continue to operate against “terrorists organizations” in
Gaza and to “remove any threat” posed to the State of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military
to take the city, which he describes as the last stronghold of
Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel ignited the war.
Netanyahu insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for
nearly two decades but now only controls parts of the territory,
must be defeated if it will not lay down its arms and surrender.
Israel’s military has urged the country’s political
leadership to instead reach a ceasefire agreement, warning that
the assault would endanger hostages held in Gaza and soldiers
carrying out the offensive, Israeli officials previously said.
In Israel, public sentiment is largely in favour of ending
the war in a deal that would see the release of the remaining
hostages. In Jerusalem on Wednesday, protesters climbed the roof
of Israel’s national library, displaying a banner that read ‘You
have abandoned and also killed’.
MASS DISPLACEMENT
“We need our soldiers back home. We need our hostages back
home now. It’s been too long for them to stay there. Stop the
war now,” said Ravid Vexelbaum, 50, from Tel Aviv.
Tens of thousands of reservists reported for duty on Tuesday
to support the offensive, forces that a military official told
reporters last month were mostly expected to take on non-combat
roles, such as in intelligence, or take over from combat
soldiers in places like the West Bank who could then be deployed
to Gaza.
The attack on Gaza City threatens to displace one million
Palestinians, almost half the population of Gaza. The Israeli
military in recent weeks has ordered the civilian population to
leave their homes, although there are reports that many families
who have already been displaced are refusing.
Over 63,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli
military since the war started in October 2023, according to
local health officials. The war has caused a humanitarian crisis
across the territory, with health officials in Gaza reporting
that 367 people, including 131 children, have so far died of
malnutrition and starvation caused by acute food shortages.
Israeli officials acknowledge there is hunger in parts of
Gaza but reject assertions of famine or starvation.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when gunmen led by
Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border,
killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages, including
children, into Gaza. There are 48 hostages still held in Gaza,
of which 20 are thought to be alive.
Hamas has offered to release some hostages, living and
deceased, in exchange for a temporary ceasefire that Israel has
yet to formally respond to. Hamas has also offered to release
all hostages in exchange for an immediate end to the war and
withdrawal by Israeli officials but has refused to lay down its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Israeli military moveddeeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, with soldiers and tankspushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban centre’s largestand most crowded neighbourhoods.In recent weeks, Israeli forces have advanced through GazaCity’s outer suburbs and are now just a few kilometres from thecity centre despite international calls to halt the offensive.Gaza City residents said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n