By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -The Israeli military moved deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, with soldiers and tanks pushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban centre’s largest and most crowded neighbourhoods.
In recent weeks, Israeli forces have advanced through Gaza City’s outer suburbs and are now just a few kilometres from the city centre despite international calls to halt the offensive.
Gaza City residents said the military had destroyed homes and tent encampments that had housed Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. At least 24 Palestinians, some of them children, were killed by the military across Gaza on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City, according to local health officials.
“Sheikh Radwan is being burnt upside-down. The occupation destroyed houses, burnt tents, and drones played audio messages ordering people to leave the area,” said Zakeya Sami, 60, a mother of five, referring to the Israeli military.
“If the takeover of Gaza City isn’t stopped, we might die, and we are not going to forgive anyone who stands and watches without doing anything to prevent our death,” she told Reuters.
The military dropped grenades on three schools in the Sheikh Radwan area that had been used to shelter displaced Palestinians, setting tents ablaze, according to residents, who said the Palestinians fled before the bombing.
The military also detonated armoured vehicles laden with explosives to destroy homes in Sheikh Radwan’s east and bombed a medical clinic, destroying two ambulances, according to witnesses.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Wednesday it would continue to operate against “terrorists organizations” in Gaza and to “remove any threat” posed to the State of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the military to take the city, which he describes as the last stronghold of Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel ignited the war.
Netanyahu insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now only controls parts of the territory, must be defeated if it will not lay down its arms and surrender.
Israel’s military has urged the country’s political leadership to instead reach a ceasefire agreement, warning that the assault would endanger hostages held in Gaza and soldiers carrying out the offensive, Israeli officials previously said.
In Israel, public sentiment is largely in favour of ending the war in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages. In Jerusalem on Wednesday, protesters climbed the roof of Israel’s national library, displaying a banner that read ‘You have abandoned and also killed’.
MASS DISPLACEMENT
“We need our soldiers back home. We need our hostages back home now. It’s been too long for them to stay there. Stop the war now,” said Ravid Vexelbaum, 50, from Tel Aviv.
Tens of thousands of reservists reported for duty on Tuesday to support the offensive, forces that a military official told reporters last month were mostly expected to take on non-combat roles, such as in intelligence, or take over from combat soldiers in places like the West Bank who could then be deployed to Gaza.
The attack on Gaza City threatens to displace one million Palestinians, almost half the population of Gaza. The Israeli military in recent weeks has ordered the civilian population to leave their homes, although there are reports that many families who have already been displaced are refusing.
Over 63,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the war started in October 2023, according to local health officials. The war has caused a humanitarian crisis across the territory, with health officials in Gaza reporting that 367 people, including 131 children, have so far died of malnutrition and starvation caused by acute food shortages.
Israeli officials acknowledge there is hunger in parts of Gaza but reject assertions of famine or starvation.
The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when gunmen led by Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities near the border, killing some 1,200 people, and taking 251 hostages, including children, into Gaza. There are 48 hostages still held in Gaza, of which 20 are thought to be alive.
Hamas has offered to release some hostages, living and deceased, in exchange for a temporary ceasefire that Israel has yet to formally respond to. Hamas has also offered to release all hostages in exchange for an immediate end to the war and withdrawal by Israeli officials but has refused to lay down its arms.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; additional reporting and writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by William Maclean)
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