Israel ‘burning the ground’ in Gaza City assault, thousands flee
89 people martyred by Israeli air strikes in the Strip since dawn
GAZA: Gaza City residents say they are being subjected to “heavy, relentless” bombardment amid reports that Israel’s military has expanded its ground offensive. At least 89 people killed by Israeli air strikes across Gaza since dawn.
Israel says ‘Gaza is burning’ as it launches ground assault: Israel has unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City, declaring “Gaza is burning” as Palestinians there described the most intense bombardment they had faced in two years of conflict, Reuters reports.
An Israel Defence Forces official said ground troops were moving deeper into the enclave’s main city, and that the number of soldiers would rise in the coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believes are still in the city.
“Gaza is burning,” Defence Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”
‘We pulled the children out in pieces’: Israel pummels Gaza City
As drones buzzed overhead in the morning sun, Palestinians gently lifted from the rubble a blanket holding a body, the latest casualty of Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza City.
The devastating scene is a familiar one in the Gaza Strip’s main urban hub, where Israel has carried out intensifying strikes in the runup to the ground assault it has launched.
Overnight bombing reduced a residential block in the north of the city to mounds of rubble. One man squeezed his head and hand beneath a concrete slab in a desperate search for survivors.
“There were about 50 people inside, including women and children. I don’t know why they bombed it,” said Abu Abd Zaqout, adding it had housed his uncle’s family.
“Why kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts?” he added. “We pulled the children out in pieces.” In a statement, the Zaqout family said 23 of its members were killed in the strike on their home. Monitoring Desk
