Israeli Troops Push Deeper Into Gaza City as Civilian Exodus Grows Amid Heavy Strikes

Israeli forces pressed ahead with a ground offensive into Gaza City on Wednesday, intensifying strikes and urging residents to flee south as the humanitarian situation worsened in the devastated enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they carried out 150 air and artillery strikes ahead of the ground operation, which began early Tuesday. Two army divisions are advancing toward the city center, with a third expected to join in the coming days.

Several strikes brought down apartment blocks near tented camps sheltering displaced people. Israel said the buildings were being used by Hamas for surveillance. On Tuesday night, Gaza City’s al-Rantisi children’s hospital was hit. According to the Gaza health ministry, half of the 80 patients escaped, but others — including four children in intensive care and eight premature babies — remained inside.

Overnight strikes killed 16 people, local hospitals reported, bringing the Palestinian death toll over two years of war to 65,000. On Tuesday, a UN human rights commission released a report concluding that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza.

The main coastal road south from Gaza City has been jammed with families fleeing the offensive. On Wednesday, the IDF announced the temporary opening of a second route through central Gaza for two days to encourage evacuation. However, many residents likely did not receive IDF text messages or social media alerts due to damage to the phone network from airstrikes.

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Of the million Palestinians in and around Gaza City, the IDF estimates 350,000 have fled south over the past month. The UN’s figure is 238,000, including about 50,000 in the last 48 hours.

The United Nations expressed grave concern Wednesday about dwindling supplies in northern Gaza, where famine conditions are spreading after Israel closed the only crossing there last week. “There are grave concerns over fuel and food stock depletion in a matter of days as there are now no direct aid entry points into northern Gaza and resupply from south to north is increasingly challenging due to mounting road congestion and insecurity,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Contrary to Israeli claims, residents interviewed in recent weeks said Hamas was not forcing them to stay. Many cited other reasons for remaining: physical weakness from months of near starvation, lack of money for transport or tents, or fears that the south is as dangerous as Gaza City. Israel has repeatedly bombed the “humanitarian zone” at al-Mawasi, where an overnight strike killed two parents and their child.

Israeli security officials, including IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, have privately questioned the offensive, warning of high civilian casualties and slim chances of destroying Hamas. No security checks are being conducted on the mass of people fleeing south, raising the likelihood that Hamas fighters will regroup elsewhere. IDF officials estimate 2,000–3,000 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters remain in Gaza City’s center, though intelligence assessments suggest that represents only a fraction of their surviving forces.

Some Israeli commentators believe the operation’s real motives are political: prolonging the war to delay elections that could topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, and rendering Gaza City uninhabitable to pressure Palestinians to leave.

On Wednesday, Cogat, the Israeli defense ministry body overseeing Gaza access, issued advice to Palestinians seeking to depart. That same day, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to Gaza as a “real estate bonanza,” telling a property development conference in Tel Aviv: “The demolition, the first stage in the city’s renewal, we have already done. Now we just need to build.” He added that he was discussing the matter with “the Americans,” according to Hebrew media reports.

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