Israel on Thursday stormed an area of Gaza City and ordered Palestinians to move south, while tanks arrived and bombarded the southern city of Rafah in what it says is the final stage of an offensive against Hamas operatives there.
Residents of Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood said they were surprised to hear the arrival of tanks and gunfire around noon, as well as drone attacks after overnight bombing of the city, which Israel devastated early in the war.
“It was as if the war had started again, a series of bombings destroyed many houses and shook buildings in our area,” Mohammed Jamal, a 25-year-old resident of Gaza City, told Reuters via a chat app.
Later on Thursday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said at least seven people had been killed so far in Shejaiya in Israeli military strikes. It said more were feared dead under rubble, which rescue teams have been unable to reach.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed women, men and children running through the streets carrying bags and food items after the raid began, with some carrying wounded children, some of whom were covered in blood.
“As you can see, this (Israeli) occupation is targeting us. You can see the children, the children are being targeted here,” said one man, holding a blood-soaked boy in his arms.
An Israeli military spokesman said he had no comment on reports of casualties in Shejaiya.
The armed wing of Hamas’ ally Islamic Jihad said it detonated a pre-planted explosive device on an Israeli tank in the east of the district.
Israel has accused militants of hiding among civilians and said it was warning displaced people to get out of the way of its campaign against the militants.
“For your safety, you should immediately move south from Salah al-Din Street to the humanitarian zone,” army spokesman Avichai Adraee said in a message to residents and displaced people of Shejaiya.
Residents and Hamas media said tanks had already arrived at the checkpoint and that people from the eastern suburb were fleeing westwards amid gunfire, as Israel blocked the road leading south.
More than eight months into Israel’s war on Gaza following a Hamas-led cross-border offensive on October 7, aid officials say the risk of famine still looms in the region, where nearly half a million people face “catastrophic” food insecurity.
“We’re starving in Gaza City, and we’re being chased by tanks and planes, and there’s no hope that this war will ever end,” Jamal said.
Another child dies due to malnutrition
The death of another girl at Kamal Adwan hospital late Wednesday brought the number of children who have died from malnutrition and dehydration to at least 31, a Gaza health official said, adding that the war had made it difficult to record such cases.
Israel has denied allegations that it caused the famine, blaming aid agencies for distribution problems and accusing Hamas of diverting aid funds, which aid agencies have denied.
In southern Gaza, drone footage on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed dozens of homes destroyed in parts of Rafah, and the village of Swedeya, west of the city, completely destroyed.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on this military action.
International mediation backed by the US has failed to reach a ceasefire agreement, although talks continue amid intense pressure from Western countries to get more aid to Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Wednesday he had discussed his proposals for the governance of post-war Gaza, which would involve local Palestinians, regional partners and the United States, but that it would be “a long and complicated process.”
Senior US officials told Gallant, who was visiting Washington, that the United States would halt heavy weapons shipments to Israel while the issue was reviewed. The shipments were halted in early May over concerns they could lead to more Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
Hamas says any deal must see an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only a temporary pause in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is wiped out.
According to Israeli figures, when Hamas-led militants swept into southern Israel on October 7, they killed nearly 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage.
The Gaza Health Ministry said on Thursday that retaliatory Israeli attacks have so far killed 37,765 people, and devastated the small, heavily populated Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but officials say most of those killed are civilians. Israel has lost 314 soldiers in Gaza and says at least a third of the Palestinians killed are combatants.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
