JEDDAH: Tanks rumbled into Gaza City on Monday for the first time since Israel launched its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian enclave more than three weeks ago.
Troops and armored vehicles attacked the city from both north and east, three days after Israel began a ground offensive that has drawn more international appeals for civilians to be protected. Palestinians are in dire need of fuel, food and clean water
Israel renewed warnings for civilians to move from the north of Gaza to the south as it pursues Hamas militants it says are hiding in a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza City.
However, video footage obtained by independent news outlets showed a tank destroying a car full of people on the main road south. “They have cut the Salah Al-Din road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it,” one resident said. Israeli warplanes bombed a section of the road, leaving large craters.
Blasts from airstrikes also shook the southern town of Rafah, near Gaza’s only operational border crossing with Egypt, and east of Khan Younis, where Hamas fighters clashed with Israeli troops.
In the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s northern outskirts, one resident said the area was now in danger from Israel's ground offensive with tanks on its fringes. “The entire place here is full of people. No one in the neighborhood has left. We are staying,” he said. "Whether tanks or planes, there will not be another displacement. That is our decision even if it means our death.”
Later, residents said the Israeli tanks had withdrawn toward the fortified boundary fence around Gaza. Hamas said intense mortar fire had pushed them back.
Palestinian health officials said airstrikes had hit near three large hospitals in Gaza City. The UN humanitarian office said 117,000 civilians were sheltering alongside patients and doctors in hospitals in the north.
Medical authorities in Gaza said the Israeli attacked had killed 8,306 Palestinians, including 3,457 children.The UN humanitarian agency said rescuers were struggling to reach stricken people. “About 1,800 people, including at least 940 children, have been reported missing and may be trapped or dead under the rubble, awaiting rescue or recovery,” it said.
Israel has said 1,400 people were killed and 229 taken hostage when Hamas militants burst over the border on Oct. 7, the deadliest single attack in Israel's 75-year history. Hamas has released four hostages so far and said 50 had been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes.
The group released video footage on Monday of three female hostages, one of whom loudly berates Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his failure to agree a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange for the release of all captives. Netanyahu, who is under mounting domestic political pressure over the hostages, denounced the video as “cruel psychological propaganda.”
