Deir al-Balah: Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up
operations aimed at seizing control of the famine-stricken city of some 1 million Palestinians. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said.
The military accused Hamas militants of using other high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out “precise, targeted strikes” on militant infrastructure in the coming days.
Israel has begun mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and is repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad.
Palestinians said Friday’s strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, an upscale neighbourhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said people
fleeing Israeli operations elsewhere in the city had sought shelter in and
around the building. Satellite imagery showed a large number of tents nearby.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed in the strike.
Israel said it struck the building because it was used by Hamas for surveillance.
Photos of the building taken before Friday’s strike showed that its roof was already heavily damaged from earlier raids.
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
That has left residents on edge, including many who returned after fleeing the city in the initial stages of the war, which has already displaced around 90% of the territory’s population.
The city’s Shifa Hospital said 27 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight into Friday, including six members of a single family.
The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants operate in densely-populated areas.
The offensive has also sparked widespread protests among Israelis who fear it will endanger
hostages still held in Gaza, some of whom are believed to be in Gaza City. There are 48 such hostages, 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive.
The protesters accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of reaching a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the hostages home. agencies