1 of 4 | An Israeli armored personnel carrier enters a military staging area inside Israel, along the border with the Gaza Strip, on Friday. Photo by Jim Hollander/UPI | License Photo
Israel’s military on Friday continued its assault on Gaza City in the nation’s new ground offensive aimed at rooting out militant Hamas.
The operation occurred as Israeli Prime Minister, during an address to the United Nations in New York, vowed to “finish the job” of eliminating Hamas in Gaza. The vast majority of delegates, including from predominantly Arab and Muslim nations, walked out.
His speech was broadcast from loudspeakers in Gaza City as multiple blasts went off, Al Jazeera reported on the scene about seven miles away, with black smoke visible.
Netanyahu’s office posted on X that phone service for Palestinians was taken over with a broadcast of the speech
Since the war started nearly two years ago on Oct. 7, Israel has attacked the Gaza Strip, including the city of Rafah to the south and Beit Hanoun in the north, but has not largely hit Gaza City, the urban area.
The Gaza Strip had a population of 2.1 million, but the United Nations estimates nine out of 10 people have been displaced. Before the war, the city’s population was about 700,000.
People have fled their homes and are crowded in tent camps in central and southern Gaza. In the area, there is widespread hunger and little health care.
In the past month, dozens of structures in Gaza City have been demolished, including the Zeitoun neighborhood and an area near Sheik Radwan, the New York Times reported.
Satellite images show the vast destruction.
Hostages remain captive as death toll rises
Al Jazeera reported Israeli forces killed 51 people since dawn, including 30 in Gaza City, according to medical sources. Since the war, the ministry said 65,549 people have died and 167,518 have been injured.
Previously, Israeli troops went into Gaza City but withdrew and then came back.
“We capture territory and we hold it,” Netanyahu told Channel 44, a right-wing Israeli television station. “We clean it out and we move forward.”
Besides ground attacks, Israel has continued airstrikes throughout Gaza City.
At least eight Palestinians were killed Friday in a strike on a tent area housing people in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, a source told Al Jazeera.
Besides weakening Hamas, Israel’s goal is to free hostages.
Israel believes there are 20 hostages still alive and 28 deceased in Gaza. Since Hama attacked Israel, 148 hostages have been returned, through cease-fires and rescue operations by Israeli military.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited troops in the southern Gaza, saying the military is “doing everything to bring the hostages back quickly and to defeat Hamas.”
He added: “We are operating on all fronts, but the main focus of effort by the IDF and the Shin Bet is here, in the Gaza Strip.”
More IDF attacks announced
Israel has warned about ensuing attacks.
“Urgent warning to all those who have not yet evacuated the Gaza Port area and the Remal neighbourhood … and the tents next to it on Amin al-Husseini Street,” spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement.
Mustafa Siyam, 44, said he fled the city’s northern Shati neighborhood on Wednesday, walking on foot for several hours with his wife and three children to central Gaza.
“It feels like the war has no goal or meaning, except to destroy as much of Gaza’s foundations as possible,” he told The New York Times.
Military officials say civilian neighborhoods aren’t targeted, but they are attacking locations used by Hamas, including tunnels.
Eli Cohen, a minister on the security cabinet, told Channel 44: “Gaza City itself should be exactly like Rafah, which we turned into a city ruins.”
World leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, have worked toward a peaceful settlement.
On Friday, Trump proposed a 21-point plan that calls for all hostages to be released within 48 hours of an agreement in exchange for Israel’s troops withdrawal from Gaza.
Several countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada and France, formally announced their recognition of Palestine, showing their preference for a two-state solution to the war in Gaza. Israeli and the U.S. have been opposed to this.
The human cost for Palestinians
In the meantime, there is a humanitarian crisis.
At least 440 people, including 147 children, have died from malnutrition, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
A 17-year-old boy died at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, a medical source told Al Jazeera.
Besides physical problems, health personnel are dealing with “mental health issues,” Martin Griffiths, director of Mediation Group International, told Al Jazeera.
He said people have seen “the worst things in the world that nobody should ever see.”
Martin said the workers won’t leave, calling them “remarkable” and “courageous.”
Days before the invasion, the Zikim Crossing was shut on Sept. 12.
The U.N. World Food Program said it hasn’t been able to bring supplies through there, where half of its food deliveries went through.
“We’re still facing these terrible obstacles, impediments to delivering aid, coming from the Israeli authorities,” UN Humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher told Al Jazeera.
“We can reach hundreds of thousands of people if we have a genuine commitment to end the starvation.”
Before the closure, there were 109,000 daily meals, according to Amjad al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network. It’s now about 50,000 in northern Gaza.
“The situation is becoming more difficult,” Um Zaki, a mother of five who has stayed in Sabra, Gaza City, told Al Jazeera. She said what food is available is priced high.
“People who sell things such as food … have left to the south,” she said.
“Even for water, we wait for hours just to get a single bucket,” Khaled Abu Alba, 35, a Palestinian from Gaza City told Al Jazeera. He was displaced to an Israeli-designated “humanitarian area” in southern Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders stops activities
One humanitarian medical group, NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, said Friday it is suspending assistance. It is known as Doctors Without Borders.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities, as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” Jacob Granger, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, said in a statement. “This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most vulnerable people — infants in neo-natal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses — unable to move and in grave danger.”
MSF said there were more than 3,600 consultations and 1,600 people treated for malnutrition just last week.
“Although we have been forced to suspend our activities in Gaza City, we aim to continue supporting key services in Ministry of Health facilities, including Al-Helou and Al-Shifa hospitals.
