Israel has destroyed another high-rise in Gaza City, bringing the number of buildings razed during its campaign to seize the area to at least 50, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.
The Israeli army said it struck Al-Ruya Tower on Sunday after issuing an evacuation threat against the building, as residents and displaced families sheltering in makeshift tents in the neighbourhood were forced to flee.
The head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, Amjad Shawa, who was near the attack, told Al Jazeera that the situation “is scary”, with panic spreading among the people.
“Today, hundreds of families lost their shelters. Israel [is] aiming to force Palestinians to the southern areas using these explosions, but everyone knows that there is no safe place in the south or any humanitarian zone,” Shawa said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the army was “eliminating terrorist infrastructure and nefarious terrorist high-rises”, a talking point that Israel often repeats as it obliterates civilian infrastructure in Gaza.
The Al-Ruya attack follows an earlier one on the Al Jazeera Club in central Gaza City, where tents housing displaced families were also hit.
It comes after Israel targeted the 15-storey Soussi Tower on Saturday and the 12-storey Mushtaha Tower on Friday. Several Palestinians sheltering in tent encampments around those towers were wounded.
Israeli escalation in Gaza City
Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for the military occupation of Gaza City in August, a move Netanyahu suggested had already led to the displacement of 100,000 Palestinians.
As Israel pushes to displace residents of Gaza City to the south of the enclave, Palestinians have been saying that nowhere is safe in the territory.
Gaza’s Ministry of Interior issued a statement on Sunday warning Palestinians in Gaza City not to trust Israel’s claim that it had set up a humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
“We call on citizens in Gaza City to beware of the occupation’s deceitful claims about the existence of a humanitarian safe zone in the south of the Strip,” it said in a statement.
The Israeli army had designated al-Mawasi a “humanitarian zone” early on in its campaign against Gaza. Since then, it has been bombed repeatedly.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported that “every five to 10 minutes, you can hear the sounds of explosions from all directions in Gaza City”, including heavy bombing in the Sabra and Zeitoun neighbourhoods.
“Israeli forces are using remotely controlled explosive robots, and detonating them in residential streets, destroying neighbourhoods,” he said. In Sheikh Radwan, Mahmoud added, homes, public facilities, schools and a mosque had been hit.
Emergency services reported that at least six people were killed and several others were wounded in an air raid on the Shati area in northwestern Gaza City.
An Israeli drone attack also killed two people and injured many more in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Medical sources said at least 65 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Sunday.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians and wounded 162,776 since October 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Thousands more remain buried under the rubble as famine continues to spread across the enclave.
Academics, United Nations experts and leading rights groups have described the horrific Israeli atrocities in Gaza as a genocide.
Later on Sunday, United States President Donald Trump suggested that he put forward a new proposal to end the war in Gaza, calling it a “final warning” for Hamas.
The Palestinian group acknowledged receiving “ideas” from the US, saying that it welcomes any efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire.
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