Israel forces step up Gaza assault, 53 and destroying key buildings forcing evacuations Image: The Guardian.
(The Post News) – Israeli forces killed at least 53 Palestinians today as intense bombardments, naval barrages, and air bombings pummeled Gaza City. The bombardments destroyed 16 buildings and intensified pressure on already blockaded families.
An airstrike in the Tal al-Hawa district struck a residential apartment building just 50 meters away from al-Quds Field Hospital, injuring civilians and severely damaging the structure, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported.
Israel Attacks on Gaza
While on Friday, witnesses also described terror as three homes in the al-Rayas block, where inhabitants tried to recover property, were bombed. Israeli soldiers threatened to bomb a school before leveling it in the Shati refugee camp, causing humans to flee in terror.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported seven more starvation fatalities, two of which were children, raising the number of hunger-related fatalities to 420, 145 of whom were children. Humanitarian organizations cautioned that Israel’s growing speed toward inducing famine in Gaza City may push civilians into “an even deeper catastrophe.”
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) placed the number of residents who were evacuated south at about 250,000 after receiving evacuation orders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to Gaza City as Hamas’s “last major stronghold,” but Palestinians said schools, shelters, and hospitals were being shelled. “We escaped certain death, my husband, our three children, and I,” said Saly Tafeesh, who was evacuated west after her brother was shot by drone fire. “We ran in the dark with nowhere safe to go.”
Some families remain trapped because evacuation is too costly, at more than $1,000. Others grumbled in both Israel and Hamas. “The Hamas preacher declares that escaping makes us cowards, yet why doesn’t he state that Hamas leaders need to surrender and free the hostages so this war can end?” said Rubein Khaled, a father of nine preparing to depart. Israeli forces also conducted raids and arrests in Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarem, and Salfit in the occupied West Bank.
Last week, relations deteriorated after an Israeli raid in Doha that left five Hamas figures and a Qatari security officer dead. Qatar scoffed at Netanyahu as a leader who “needs to be stopped.” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday in New York after the attack. Trump cautioned Netanyahu to be “very careful” as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a meeting on Monday with him in Jerusalem. France and the UK will acknowledge a Palestinian state at the UN later this month.
The conflict erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The Health Ministry of Gaza has since confirmed 64,803 Palestinians killed by bombings from Israel, including hundreds who starved to death under blockade. Bombed relentlessly from the north to the south, Gaza’s biggest city and its traditional political center now represent devastation.
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