A HEAVY Israeli bombardment shook Gaza City today as thousands of fleeing Palestinians searched for shelter and medical facilities were forced to shut down by the latest offensive.
Israel claims that its latest ground assault in the Gaza Strip’s largest city is aimed at rooting out Hamas fighters after they regrouped in areas that the army previously said had been largely cleared.
Much of Gaza City and the urban areas around it have been flattened after nine months of fighting. Most of the population fled earlier in the war, but several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in the north of the devastated coastal enclave.
“The fighting has been intense,” said Hakeem Abdel-Bar, who fled Gaza City’s Tuffah district for the homes of relatives in another part of the city.
Israeli warplanes and drones are “striking anything moving” and tanks have moved into central districts, he added.
There was no immediate word on casualties, but Palestinian Red Crescent spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh described the area as “a dangerous zone.”
Al-Ahli and the Patients Friends Association hospital, two of the last remaining medical facilties in Gaza City, have now reportedly been forced to close.
In the past nine months, Israeli troops have occupied at least eight hospitals, causing the deaths of patients and medical workers and massive destruction to facilities and equipment.
Israel has claimed, without providing credible evidence, that Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes.
Across Gaza as a whole, only 13 of the territory’s 36 hospitals are reported to be even partly functioning.
Israel’s assault in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel has killed or wounded more than 5 per cent of the strip’s 2.3 million Palestinians.
Many have been displaced multiple times and hundreds of thousands are packed into sweltering tent camps.
Today, Israeli air strikes on the central town of Deir al-Balah and nearby refugee camps killed at least 14 people.
The Israeli military claims to have intelligence showing that fighters from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group were regrouping in central Gaza City and hiding among civilians.
Hamas has warned that Israel’s latest raids in Gaza City could lead to the collapse of negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release.
The two sides appeared to narrow the gaps in recent days, with mediation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
But Hamas reportedly still wants mediators to guarantee that that negotiations conclude with a permanent ceasefire.
Israel has rejected any deal that would force it to end the war with the armed Islamist movement still intact.
Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of “putting more obstacles in the way of negotiations.”
