Israel’s army says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun

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JERUSALEM — The Israeli army started a floor offensive concentrating on Gaza City on Tuesday, slowly squeezing in on the Palestinian territory’s largest metropolis that has seen block after block already destroyed within the Israel-Hamas battle. Residents nonetheless within the metropolis have been warned they have to go away and head south.

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The push marks yet one more escalation in a battle that has roiled the Middle East as any potential ceasefire feels even additional out of attain regardless of months of diplomacy. While the army wouldn’t supply a timeline for the offensive, Israeli media retailers steered it might take months.

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Earlier within the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” whereas unbiased specialists commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council introduced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, becoming a member of a rising worldwide refrain of such accusations.

Israel fiercely rejected the declare, calling the specialists’ report “distorted and false.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel after which made a short cease within the energy-rich nation of Qatar the place he met with its ruling emir whose nation remains to be incensed over Israel’s strike final week that killed 5 Hamas members and an area safety official.

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Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday however stopped wanting any main motion concentrating on Israel, highlighting the problem of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel’s conduct.

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Egypt, nevertheless, escalated its language towards Israel, referring to it because the “enemy” for the primary time in years. Qatar and Egypt have been key negotiators within the battle.

“We have a really brief window of time by which a deal can occur,” Rubio stated. “It’s a key second — an vital second.”

Rubio stated “a negotiated settlement” nonetheless stays the most suitable choice whereas acknowledging the risks an intensified army marketing campaign posed to Gaza.

“The solely factor worse than a battle is a protracted one which goes on perpetually and ever,” Rubio stated. “At some level, this has to finish. At some level, Hamas must be defanged, and we hope it may well occur by means of a negotiation. But I feel time, sadly, is operating out.”

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Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows

Katz had signaled earlier within the day the operation in Gaza City had begun.

“Gaza is burning,” he stated. “We won’t relent and we won’t return — till the completion of the mission.”

An Israeli army official, talking on situation of anonymity in step with army pointers, stated that the “most important section” of the Gaza City operation had begun, with troops shifting in from town’s outskirts towards its heart. Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for a while within the leadup to the operation, flattening towers within the metropolis.

The official stated the Israeli army believes there are roughly 2,000 to three,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, in addition to tunnels utilized by the militant group. The army estimates 350,000 folks have left Gaza City — saying it was about one-third of town’s inhabitants earlier than the brand new floor offensive began.

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That contradicted a UN estimate issued Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the previous month, after the Israeli army warned that every one residents ought to go away Gaza City forward of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians have been residing within the area round Gaza City earlier than the evacuation warnings.

Long traces of visitors stretched down Gaza’s coastal street Tuesday because the offensive started, with automobiles loaded down with mattresses and folks’s belongings and others fleeing on foot.

By the top of the present operation, an Israeli army graphic steered its troops hope to manage all the Gaza Strip apart from a big swath alongside the coast.

At least 34 Palestinians killed in Gaza City

Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes throughout Gaza City on Tuesday morning.

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By midday, town’s Shifa Hospital had acquired the our bodies of 34 folks killed within the strikes, stated Dr. Rami Mhanna, a hospital official. Dozens of wounded had additionally come into the ability, he stated.

“A really robust night time in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, the hospital’s director, informed The Associated Press. “The bombing didn’t cease for a single second.”

The Israeli army didn’t reply to speedy requests for touch upon the strikes however up to now has accused Hamas of constructing army infrastructure inside civilian areas, particularly in Gaza City.

Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation

Overnight, households of the hostages nonetheless being held in Gaza gathered exterior of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, pleading with him to cease the Gaza City operation.

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Some pitched tents and slept exterior his dwelling in protest.

“I’ve one curiosity — for this nation to get up and convey again my youngster together with 47 different hostages, each residing and deceased, and to convey our troopers dwelling,” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza, shouted exterior Netanyahu’s residence.

“If he stops at nothing and sends our treasured, courageous, heroic troopers to battle whereas our hostages are getting used as human shields — he’s not a worthy prime minister,” Zangauker.

Israel believes round 20 of the 48 hostages nonetheless held by the militants in Gaza, together with Matan, are alive. Hamas has stated it’ll solely free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, an enduring ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

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The battle in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing round 1,200 folks, principally civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been launched in ceasefires brokered partially by Qatar or different offers.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed not less than 64,871 Palestinians, in line with Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of have been civilians or combatants. The ministry, which is a part of the Hamas-run authorities and staffed by medical professionals, says girls and youngsters make up round half the useless.

Egypt escalates its rhetoric towards Israel

Egypt, which has had a peace cope with Israel for many years and has served as a mediator within the battle in Gaza, seems to be shedding its endurance with Israel.

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Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, described Israel as “an enemy” in a fiery speech on the Qatar summit Monday. It was the primary time an Egyptian chief used the time period for the reason that two international locations established diplomatic ties in 1979, stated Diaa Rashwan, head of Egyptian authorities’s State Information Service.

Egypt was the primary Arab nation to ascertain ties with Israel and their peace treaty is seen as a cornerstone for stability within the unstable area.

“Egypt is being threatened,” Rashwan informed the state-run Extra News tv late Monday.

El-Sissi’s “enemy” remark performed prominently throughout Egyptian newspapers’ entrance pages on Tuesday and whereas Cairo has taken no steps to vary its standing with Israel, the Egyptian authorities possible is making an attempt to sign simply how critically it takes Israel’s latest actions.

— Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Munich, Germany, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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