Israel has begun first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City
The Israeli military says it has launched the first phase of a planned ground operation aimed at capturing and occupying all of Gaza City, claiming its forces already control the city’s outskirts.
According to a military spokesperson, troops are operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to prepare the way for the larger assault. Defense Minister Israel Katz signed off on the plan Tuesday, and it will be presented to the security cabinet later this week. Roughly 60,000 reservists are being called up in early September to free regular forces for the campaign.
Hamas has accused Israel of blocking a potential ceasefire agreement in order to continue what it called a “brutal war against innocent civilians,” Reuters reported.
Israeli plans are expected to include evacuation orders for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City, instructing them to head south into designated shelters as the military pushes forward with its takeover plan.
The move has drawn international criticism. French President Emmanuel Macron warned Wednesday the offensive “can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war.” The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also cautioned that renewed displacement and fighting could “worsen an already catastrophic situation” for Gaza’s 2.1 million residents.
Israel declared its intention to seize the entire Gaza Strip after ceasefire and hostage negotiations with Hamas collapsed last month.
Military preparations underway
At a televised briefing Wednesday, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Hamas was “battered and bruised” after 22 months of conflict.
“We will deepen the damage to Hamas in Gaza City, a core of governmental and military terror for the organization,” he said. “We will dismantle terror infrastructure above and below ground and cut off the population’s reliance on Hamas.”
Defrin added that the IDF “is not waiting” to act. Two brigades are now operating in the Zeitoun neighborhood, where troops recently uncovered a weapons tunnel, while a third brigade is working in Jabalia.
He stressed that civilians would be warned to evacuate to reduce harm.
But conditions on the ground remain dire. Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency reported 25 deaths across the territory Wednesday, including three children and their parents killed in a strike on their home in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal described the situation in Zeitoun and Sabra as “very dangerous and unbearable.”
Defrin also addressed the fate of hostages. The IDF believes Hamas continues to hold around 50 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive. Families have voiced concern that an assault on Gaza City could endanger them. The ICRC likewise warned that intensified fighting risks not only worsening civilian suffering but also jeopardizing hostage lives.