Gaza City has been subjected to the most intense Israeli bombardment in two years of war, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee in desperation under relentless shelling and gunfire.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the latest escalation as “horrendous”, while growing international criticism has intensified against Israel’s ongoing campaign.
“Gaza is burning,” declared Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on X, as convoys of vans, donkey carts stacked with belongings, and residents on foot streamed down the coastal al-Rashid Street. Behind them, black smoke billowed over the devastated cityscape.
Initially, many residents had resolved to remain despite Israel’s apparent plan to take over Gaza City. However, as the military ramped up its deadly strikes, reducing homes, apartment towers, and critical infrastructure to rubble, those able to flee made their way south — even without guarantees of safety or shelter.
On Tuesday alone, at least 91 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City, including casualties from a strike on a vehicle carrying civilians attempting to evacuate along the coast.
Among the destruction, at least 17 residential buildings were reduced to rubble. Aybaki Mosque in the Tuffah neighbourhood was also targeted and destroyed by an Israeli airstrike.
In addition to aerial bombardments, Israeli forces continued to flatten northern, southern, and eastern parts of the city using remote-controlled, explosive-laden robots. Earlier this month, rights group Euro-Med Monitor reported that 15 such robots had been deployed, each capable of demolishing up to 20 housing units.
Roughly 1 million Palestinians had returned to Gaza City in recent months to live among the ruins. While precise figures on the current population vary, an Israeli military official claimed Tuesday that around 350,000 residents had now fled. In contrast, Gaza’s Government Media Office stated that 350,000 had been displaced internally within the city’s central and western areas, while 190,000 had left entirely.
Those fleeing face grim prospects in the south. Al-Mawasi, a camp near the coast already overwhelmed with people displaced from Rafah and Khan Younis, has also come under Israeli fire. Faced with dire conditions, the Government Media Office reported that 15,000 people had made the reverse journey back to Gaza City in recent days.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army released aerial footage of tanks and armoured vehicles advancing deeper into Gaza City. Military spokesperson Effie Defrin acknowledged that full control of the city would take “several months” but insisted, “No matter how long it takes, we will operate in Gaza.”
Across the strip, at least 106 people were killed on Tuesday, according to medical sources.
In a significant development, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday formally concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza amounts to genocide — marking a landmark moment in the nearly two-year conflict that has killed at least 64,964 Palestinians. The report cited public statements by Israeli officials to demonstrate the “dolus specialis” of genocide — the legal term for a specific intent to destroy a people.
Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the findings. “The situation in Gaza today portends a humanitarian catastrophe that cannot tolerate any leniency or delay,” the ministry stated on X.
UN Secretary-General Guterres denounced the war as “morally, politically and legally intolerable.” France’s Foreign Ministry echoed these concerns, urging Israel to halt its “destructive campaign, which no longer has any military logic,” and to return to negotiations immediately.
Irish President Michael D Higgins went further, condemning “those who are practising genocide, and those who are supporting genocide with armaments.” He called for discussions on excluding Israel from the United Nations and advocated for ending trade with those perpetrating atrocities.
Source: Al Jazeera
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