Palestinians flee heavy Israeli assault

Gaza City residents fled under Israeli fire as tanks thrust deeper into the heart of the city yesterday, the second day of a stepped-up military offensive that Hamas said could jeopardise ceasefire talks.

Qatari and Egyptian mediators, backed by the United States, have accelerated their efforts this week to seal a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza offensive and releasing Israeli hostages in the enclave in return for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

• Israeli tanks go deep into Gaza City districts
• Hamas, Islamic Jijad battle Israeli forces in close combat
• Gaza death toll rises to 38,243

Yesterday, Israeli tanks deepened their incursion into some Gaza City districts including Shejaia, Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa, where residents reported the previous day some of the most fierce fighting since the start of the offensive.

Footage circulated on social media yesterday showed families packed onto donkey carts and in the backs of trucks piled with mattresses and other belongings racing through the city’s streets to flee areas under Israeli evacuation orders.

“Gaza City is being wiped out, this is what is happening. Israel is forcing us to leave homes under fire,” Um Tamer, a mother of seven, told Reuters via a chat app.

She said it was the seventh time her family had fled their house in Gaza City, in the north of the enclave and one of Israel’s first targets at the start of the offensive in October. “We can’t take it anymore, enough of death and humiliation. End the offensive now,” she said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said all of its medical clinics were out of service in Gaza City due to the evacuation orders.

At least 38,243 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in the enclave since October 7, and 87,903 have been wounded, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday. A total of 50 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.

The assault has unfolded as senior US officials were in the region pushing for a ceasefire after Hamas made concessions last week. But the renewed campaign “could bring the negotiation process back to square one,” Hamas quoted leader Ismail Haniyeh as saying later on Monday.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said they fought against Israeli forces in Tel Al-Hawa with anti-tank rockets and mortar fire, and inflicted casualties.

In a statement, the Israeli military said troops were continuing operations in Gaza City, following intelligence indicating the presence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the area. It said Israeli forces had taken dozens of fighters out of action and located numerous weapons.

Palestinian health officials said yesterday Israeli airstrikes killed six people in a house in Gaza City, nine in two houses in Al-Nuseirat and Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza and three people in Rafah on the Gaza Strip’s southern edge.

An Israeli strike against a group of Palestinians in Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza Strip killed at least seven people, most of them children, medics said.

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