Israel steps up Gaza City bombing after Netanyahu vow to expand the offensive
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Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO – Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Aug 11 in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the enclave “fairly quickly”.
An air strike also killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif, in a tent at the Al-Shifa Hospital compound.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Aug 11, pushing many families out of their homes westwards.
Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Palestinian militant group Hamas is now sheltering about one million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave’s northern edges.
The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which is not expected to begin in the coming weeks.
“It sounded like the war was restarting,” said Mr Amr Salah, 25. “Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
The Israeli military said its forces on Aug 10 dismantled a launch site east of Gaza City, which Hamas used to fire rockets towards Israeli communities across the border.
Mr Netanyahu on Aug 10 said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive
“I want to end the war as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to shorten the schedule for seizing control of Gaza City,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu on Aug 10 said the new offensive will focus on Gaza City, which he described as Hamas’ “capital of terrorism”.
He also pointed to a map and indicated that the coastal area of central Gaza may be next, saying Hamas militants have been pushed there too.
The new plans have raised alarm abroad, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying on Aug 11 they heralded “a disaster of unprecedented gravity” and “a move towards a never-ending war”.
On Aug 8, Germany, a key European ally, announced it w ould halt exports of military equipment to Israel
Mr Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023
Israel’s planned offensive coincides with worsening hunger in Gaza.
On Aug 11, the territory’s Health Ministry said five more people have died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours. That raised the number of deaths from such causes to 222, including 101 children, since the war began.
Israel says it has scaled up the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza in past weeks. Palestinian and UN officials say the aid is a fraction of what Gaza needs.
Journalist killed
The air strike that killed Al Jazeera’s Anas Al Sharif and four of his colleagues at Al-Shifa Hospital was the deadliest for journalists in the conflict so far and was condemned by journalists and rights groups.
Medics at the hospital said on Aug 11 that local freelancer Mohammad Al-Khaldi had also died in the attack, raising the number of dead journalists from the same strike to six.
Mr Al Sharif had previously been threatened by Israel, which confirmed it had targeted and killed him, alleging he had headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel.
Al Jazeera rejected the claim, and before his death, Mr Al Sharif had also rejected Israeli allegations that he had links to Hamas.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, linked his killing to the new planned offensive.
“The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain pave the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City,” it said.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed in almost two years of war. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed.
Hamas-led fighters triggered the war in October 2023, when they stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 are thought to be alive.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel’s campaign, according to Gaza health officials. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced multiple times and its residents are facing a humanitarian crisis, with swathes of the territory reduced to rubble. REUTERS
