Israel targeted a high-rise building in Gaza City following an evacuation warning, as the military intensified operations designed to capture control of the famine-ravaged city housing approximately one million Palestinians. Additional strikes across Gaza City resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people, according to health officials.
The military claimed Hamas fighters were utilizing high-rises throughout the city for surveillance purposes and planned ambushes, announcing it would conduct “precise, targeted strikes” on militant infrastructure in the upcoming days, reports the Associated Press. Israel has started mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is reissuing evacuation warnings as part of its strategy to expand its offensive, which has generated domestic opposition and international condemnation. Palestinians reported Friday’s strike hit the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, a wealthy neighborhood prior to the war.
Tensions rise
Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari stated that people escaping Israeli operations in other parts of the city had taken refuge in and around the structure. It remained unclear whether anyone was injured or killed in the attack.
Israel claimed it struck the structure because Hamas used it for surveillance activities. Images of the building captured before Friday’s strike revealed that its roof had already sustained severe damage from previous raids.
Israel has designated Gaza City, located in the northern section of the territory, as an active combat zone. Sections of the city have already been classified as “red zones” where Palestinian residents have been instructed to evacuate in anticipation of intense military operations.
Attacks continue
This development has left inhabitants anxious, including numerous individuals who had returned after fleeing during the war’s opening phase. The war has already forced approximately 90% of the territory’s population from their homes.
Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital reported that 27 individuals perished in Israeli airstrikes during the overnight hours leading into Friday, including six members from one family. Israeli military officials maintain they exclusively target militants and hold Hamas responsible for civilian casualties due to the group’s operations within heavily populated neighborhoods.
The military campaign has also triggered extensive demonstrations among Israelis who worry it will jeopardize hostages still detained in Gaza, some of whom are thought to be located in Gaza City. There are 48 such hostages, with 20 of them presumed by Israel to be alive.
Hamas-led militants have killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 individuals during their attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on Oct. 7, 2023. Most have since been freed through ceasefires or other agreements.
Israel’s counter-offensive has resulted in the deaths of over 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not specify the number of civilian or combatant casualties but states that women and children constitute about half of the deceased.
Israel maintains that the war will persist until all hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and it will continue to exercise indefinite security control over the territory of some 2 million Palestinians.
Hamas asserts that it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.