Published 16/09/2025 09:11 | Edited 16/09/2025 11:29
The army of Israel announced on Tuesday (16) the beginning of earthly foray into the city of Gaza. The operation had already been approved by the Security Office in August as part of a plan to occupy the largest urban area of the track, classified by Tel Aviv as one of Hamas’s last strongholds.
The decision consolidates the strategy of advancing beyond the air attacks that devastated the Enclave capital in recent weeks. Two Israeli officers confirmed to the CNN network that the raid began on Tuesday morning, describing the action as “phase and gradual” in its initial stage.
Hours later, the spokesman for Israel’s Defense Forces in Arabic, Avichay Adraee, made the expansion of the offensive in publication in the X, stating that Gaza City is “a dangerous combat zone” and instructing the population to leave the region south.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the country crosses “a critical stage of this fight” and confirmed that “we started an intense operation in Gaza yesterday”, in a speech given in the court where he is responsible for corruption charges.
Defense Minister Israel Katz adopted Tomloriando, saying that “Gaza is on fire” and that the Israeli troops “hit the terrorist infrastructure with iron fist.”
Israeli authorities admit that the offensive targets a small contingent of Hamas compared to the city’s civilian population.
Estimates of the army itself point between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters in the region, less than 1% of residents. Before the war, the city housed about 1 million people, now subjected to evacuation orders under continuous bombing.
In recent days, in preparation for the beginning of the offensive, at least ten UN buildings have been hit, according to the Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa). Damaged structures include seven schools and two clinics used as shelters for thousands of displaced people.
⚡️BREAKING:
Israel just bombed and leveled Al-Ghofari Tower, Gaza City’s tallest 17-story building, which housed international and press institutions. Hundreds of families were forced to evacuate in terror and chaos before its destruction, marking another humanitarian tragedy. pic.twitter.com/ezKuL7zUen
— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws1) September 15, 2025
‼️Breaking: PCHR’s Headquarters Office in Gaza City, located in Al-Roya Tower, has just been completely destroyed by IOF’s warplanes, as part of Israel’s ongoing systematic attacks targeting high rise buildings in the City, in another war crime committed against the Palestinian… https://t.co/q87ohCP2n6 pic.twitter.com/px4vpeGHVy
— Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – PCHR (@pchrgaza) September 8, 2025
UNRWA stated that three of its schools were bombarded at the Al-Shati Refugee Field on Saturday (13). “There is no safe place in Gaza,” said general commissioner Philippe Lazzarini.
After days of attacks on high buildings in Gaza, the army intensified bombing during the early hours of Monday to Tuesday. Residents reported gunfire in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the northwest of the city, and attacks also in Deir Al-Balah and other areas of the center of the track.
Shifa hospital received the bodies of 20 people killed in an attack that destroyed houses in a neighborhood of western city and served 90 other injuries in the last few hours. Doctors warned that there are still bodies under the rubble. Gaza health officials estimate at least 14 dead and more than 40 injured in attacks even before the formal start of land forest.
Videos obtained by international agencies show children among the victims, taken from the rubble by family members and taken to hospitals in white shots.
International organizations confirm that mass displacement follows at a rapid pace.
The UN estimates that 220,000 people have left the north of the track last month, while the Israeli army speaks of 320,000 displaced as long as the withdrawals were issued.
The total number of dead from the beginning of the war has risen to 64,871, according to the Ministry of Health of the Territory. Almost half are women and children.
Internal disputes and US support mark the advance of the offensive
The order of evacuation of the city of Gaza exposed a division between military and legal authorities in Israel. According to the Israeli newspaper HaaretzChief Military Prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi sent an opinion to the Chief of Staff, Ayal Zamir, warning that it was not possible to affirm the legality of the forced displacement of the population without proper conditions to receive it in the south of the track.
Days later, Zamir disregarded the recommendation. He called a meeting with Southern Command Commander Yaniv Asor, and the coordinator of Operations in the Territories, Rasan Alyan, and decided on the city’s total evacuation without informing the prosecutor.
The Israeli military and the Netanyahu government have the White House back. This Monday (15), Marco Rubio met with the Israeli Prime Minister in Jerusalem before heading to Doha at Qatar.
The Secretary of State stated that the time to negotiate an agreement is limited, implying that the Trump administration had endorsed the occupinance.
“We believe we have a very short time window for an agreement to be achieved. We have no more months, probably days or a few weeks, so this is a key moment-an important moment,” he said.
He said the US priority is a negotiated way out, but warned that “the only thing worse than a war is a prolonged war that never ends” and added that “at some point Hamas needs to be disarmed.”
Later, also on Monday, Donald Trump wrote on social networks that Hamas would be transferring hostages to the surface to use them as human shields against Israeli attacks.
The president has classified the practice as a “human atrocity” and stated, “Don’t let it happen, or everything will be open.” Hamas replied that the statements represented “wide open bias in favor of Zionist propaganda” and stated that the fate of the kidnapped depends on the Netanyahu government.
Hamas rejected the accusations and said Trump reproduced “a wide open bias in favor of Zionist propaganda.” The group said it is not using hostages such as human shields and directly liable the Netanyahu government for the situation.
The faction added that the destruction in Gaza also threatens the lives of the kidnapped, whose destination, according to the movement, is determined by the military actions of Israel.
A few hours before the terrestrial offensive confirmation, Military Analyst Cedric Leighton, a US Air Force retired colonel, told CNN that it would be “a miracle” if hostages survived the operation.
He assessed that the type of force employed by Israel is “very raw, brute strength,” and that the troops “will have to move between the rubble and tunnels still controlled by Hamas,” which increases the risk of deaths among the abducted.
In the early hours of Tuesday (16), hostage families protested in front of Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem.
Some set up tents and spent the night at the scene. Einav Zangauker, mother of Matan, one of the kidnapped, said that “I have an interest – that this country wakes up and brings my son back along with 47 other hostages, alive and dead, and bring our soldiers back home.”
She accused the premie of sacrificing hostages and military by continuing the offensive. “If he doesn’t stop for anything he is not a decent prime minister,” he said.
The hostage and missing families forum warned that military climbing “may be the last night of hostage life.”
Source: vermelho.org.br
