Israel’s military fighting in ‘heart of Gaza City’ as it rejects calls for humanitarian pause


Key Points
  • Israel’s defence minister has said said Israeli soldiers are operating in the heart of Gaza City.
  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would seek an “indefinite” security responsibility for Gaza.
  • White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US opposed a ‘reoccupation’ of Gaza by Israel.
Israel said on Tuesday its forces were operating deep in Gaza City, and that Hamas’ leader was trapped inside a bunker.
Gaza residents said earlier that Israeli tanks were positioned on the outskirts of Gaza City, Hamas’ stronghold in the north of the territory and home to about a third of its 2.3 million people before the hostilities.
Israel previously said it had surrounded Gaza City and would soon attack it to annihilate Hamas fighters who one month ago.

Israeli Defence Minister: military ‘tightening the noose’ on Gaza City

In televised statements, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israeli soldiers were operating in the heart of Gaza City, and that Hamas’ most senior leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was isolated in a bunker
“IDF (Israeli military) forces…came from the north and the south. They stormed it in full coordination between land, air and sea forces,” Gallant said, adding that military forces were moving on foot, and with armoured vehicles and tanks.

“They are tightening the noose around Gaza City.”

A month since Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel, the Israeli Defence Forces have intensified aerial attacks on the Gaza Strip and launched a ground invasion. Source: Getty / Dan Kitwood

“Gaza City is encircled, we are operating inside it,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement. “We are increasing pressure on Hamas every hour, every day. So far, we have killed thousands of terrorists, above ground and below ground.”

The military wing of Hamas, which has ruled the small, densely populated enclave for 16 years, said its fighters were inflicting heavy losses and damage on advancing Israeli forces. It had no immediate comment on the possible fate of Sinwar. It was not possible to verify the battlefield claims of either side.

“It has been one full month of carnage, of incessant suffering, bloodshed, destruction, outrage and despair,” UN Human Rights Commissioner Volcker Turk said in a statement at the start of a trip to the region.

Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in which more than 1,400 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken. More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.

Israel, which is trying to clear out Gaza City, gave residents a window from 10am to 2pm (local time) on Tuesday to leave for the southern part of the 45km-long Gaza Strip.

Residents say Israeli tanks have been moving mostly at night with Israeli forces largely relying on air and artillery strikes to clear a path for their ground advance. Gaza’s interior ministry says 900,000 Palestinians are still sheltering in northern Gaza including Gaza City.

“The most dangerous trip in my life. We saw the tanks from point blank (range). We saw decomposed body parts. We saw death,” resident Adam Fayez Zeyara posted with a selfie of himself on the road out of Gaza City.

Attacks continue on southern Gaza

While Israel’s military operation is focused on the northern half of Gaza, the south . Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes early on Tuesday in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.

“We are civilians,” said Ahmed Ayesh, who was rescued from the rubble of a house in Khan Younis where health officials said 11 people had been killed. “This is the bravery of the so-called Israel – they show their might and power against civilians, babies inside, kids inside, and elderly.”

People searching through the rubble of destroyed buildings.

People search through buildings that were destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Source: Getty / Ahmad Hasaballah

Both Israel and Hamas have rebuffed calls for a halt in fighting. Israel . Hamas says it will not free them or stop fighting while Gaza is under attack.

Netanyahu signals ‘security responsibility’ in Gaza

Israel has so far been vague about its long-term plans for Gaza, should it succeed in its operation to vanquish Hamas. In some of the first direct comments on the subject. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek to have security responsibility for Gaza “for an indefinite period”.
“We’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that security responsibility,” he told US television’s ABC News.
Israel pulled its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and two years later, Hamas took power there, driving out the Palestinian Authority which exercises limited self-rule in a separate, Israeli-occupied territory, the West Bank.

Gallant, however, said that after the war was finished, neither Israel nor Hamas would rule Gaza.

White House says it does not support ‘reoccupation’ of Gaza

White House spokesperson John Kirby said US President Joe Biden opposed Israeli reoccupation of Gaza, saying it’s “not the right thing to do”.

Kirby also flagged that Hamas “cannot be part of the equation” about Gaza’s administration.

Humanitarian convoy comes under fire

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a humanitarian convoy came under fire in Gaza City on Tuesday but was able to deliver medical supplies to al-Shifa hospital.

Two trucks were damaged and a driver was lightly wounded, the organisation said. It said the convoy included five trucks and two ICRC vehicles and was carrying “lifesaving medical supplies to health facilities including to Al Quds hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, when it was hit by fire.” The group did not identify the source of the fire.

A person looking out at the destruction of nearby buildings.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Source: Getty / Ahmad Hasaballah

After the incident, the convoy altered its route and reached al-Shifa hospital where it delivered the medical supplies, ICRC said. The ICRC convoy then accompanied six ambulances with critically wounded patients to the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt, the group said.

“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” said William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.
“Ensuring that vital aid can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law.”

ICRC, a neutral organisation based in Geneva, has escorted patients and transported freed hostages out of Gaza.



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