People run for lives from air strikes and explosive-laden ‘robots’, as lifelines collapse in Gaza’s largest city centre.
The Israeli military is pushing in direction of the centre of Gaza City from two instructions, “sandwiching” residents and forcing them in direction of the coast in a bid to drive them out of the enclave’s largest city centre.
Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani instructed the Reuters information company on Thursday that infantry, tanks and artillery have been advancing on the internal metropolis, backed by the air pressure, with the goal of making use of stress on the armed group Hamas.
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Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud mentioned that the Israeli army was advancing from the northwest and the southeast, “sandwiching individuals within the center” and pushing them to the west of the town, the place the al-Rashid coastal street main south is situated.
“The assaults on overcrowded neighbourhoods are inflicting panic and concern, and pushing individuals actually to run for his or her lives. We’re seeing waves of individuals now doing simply that,” he mentioned, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza.
People in Gaza City instructed Al Jazeera about nonstop assaults, together with “aerial strikes by drones and fighter jets” and detonations from remote-controlled “robots” – unmanned automobiles filled with explosives that the Israeli military has been deploying to explode neighbourhoods because it advances inwards.
At least 40 individuals have been killed in Gaza City on Thursday, medical sources instructed Al Jazeera.
Lifelines collapse
Amid the apocalyptic scenes, fleeing households confronted the heartbreaking prospect of renewed displacement in a territory devoid of “protected zones”, solely this time with the very actual risk that they could by no means once more return residence.
Still, many have stayed put. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claimed that roughly 740,000 individuals – roughly 35 p.c of Gaza’s 2.1 million inhabitants – have been nonetheless within the north of the enclave as of Tuesday.
However, the bureau signalled that numbers might drop, with the continual Israeli assaults driving extra individuals out and fundamental companies disappearing.
The UN humanitarian workplace (OCHA) warned on Thursday that Gaza City’s final lifelines have been collapsing.
OCHA accused Israel of “systematically blocking” efforts to deliver support to individuals, citing the closure of the Zikim crossing to Gaza’s famine-stricken north and bans on sure meals gadgets.
‘Blatant disregard’
Outside Gaza City, no less than 10 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fireplace in different components of the enclave, in response to medical sources.
The Israeli army reported that 4 of its troopers have been killed within the early hours of the morning within the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine denounced on social media Israel’s “blatant disregard” for worldwide authorized necessities to differentiate between combatants and civilians in its air assaults on Gaza.
The Israeli strikes on internally displaced individuals, together with as they attempt to go away Gaza metropolis or search shelter close to hospitals, present the Israeli army’s blatant disregard for the basic precept of distinction. Israel has demanded that Palestinian civilians go away Gaza…
— UN Human Rights Palestine (@OHCHR_Palestine) September 18, 2025
As Israel expanded its offensive on Thursday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council decision calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of restrictions on support into Gaza, and the return of hostages held by Hamas.
The UK’s everlasting consultant to the UN, Barbara Woodward, mentioned that “Israel’s reckless growth of its army operation takes us additional away from a deal which might deliver the hostages residence and finish the struggling in Gaza.”
