Israel expels tens of thousands from Gaza City as army readies for major assault

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forcibly expelled southwards out of Gaza City in recent days, with the Israeli army announcing it had completed its preparations for the city's occupation. 

According to Gaza’s Civil Defence rescue and support agency, Israeli expulsion orders and attacks have displaced around 70,000 Palestinians.

However, Israel's military puts that number much higher - at around 300,000 people - including 20,000 Palestinians that it says left Gaza City overnight.

Last month, Israel approved a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip, starting with the seizure of Gaza City.

Since then, Israel has bombarded the city, destroying hundreds of homes and killing scores of Palestinians every day.

Israel's genocide in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians and levelled most of the enclave's towns and cities.

According to Muneer al-Boursh, the director general of the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, since 13 August, at least 1,890 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli assault on the city, with nearly 40 percent of the victims children (482), women (174) and the elderly (57).

"Today children are born among rubble and hunger, and Gaza has become the largest camp on earth," Boursh said. 

"The world remains silent in the face of this genocide, documented in sound and image, while hospitals collapse under bombardment and siege."

As Israeli presses its offensive on Gaza City, the military's Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir has reportedly warned that Hamas will not be defeated by Israel's attacks and plans to fully occupy Gaza.

Israel's Channel 12 quoted Zamir as telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet: "Hamas will not be defeated militarily or politically, even after the operation to seize control of Gaza City."

Ethnic cleansing, displacement and destruction

As part of an officially declared plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza City of its one million residents, the Israeli military has also been heavily bombing vital lifelines since mid-August.

This has included high-rise buildings, schools sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, water tanks, rooftop solar panels, internet access points and mobile charging stations.

This is the aftermath of an Israeli strike that targeted families sheltering in Gaza City.

Israel has intensified its assault on the city, levelling residential buildings and schools minutes after issuing expulsion orders. Earlier on Saturday, it bombed two Unrwa schools where… pic.twitter.com/KglYdcaWjS

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) September 13, 2025

According to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, intensifying air strikes in Gaza City and elsewhere in the enclave's north have forced people to leave "disoriented and uncertain".

He said on Sunday that over the past four days, 10 Unrwa buildings have been hit in the city, including seven schools and two clinics used as shelter by thousands of displaced people.

Landmark buildings have also been targeted.

Over the weekend, Israeli forces destroyed what remained of the Islamic University of Gaza.

Established in 1978, the Gaza City university, which has been previously damaged by targeted Israeli assaults, is considered the top-ranked higher education institution in the enclave. 

Erasing survival: Israel destroys Gaza’s lifelines to force mass displacement 

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The UN estimates that over 90 percent of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, leaving nearly 1.9 million Palestinians without a permanent and safe place to live.

According to legal experts and rights groups, the mass destruction of buildings and agricultural lands in Gaza amount to collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, even if civilian property may have been used by armed groups in the past.

Moreover, with the Israeli army forcing hundreds of thousands of north Gaza residents into the south, particularly the so-called "safe zone" of al-Mawasi, displaced civilians are at risk of poor health, lack of basic necessities and even death. 

"The Israeli occupation is forcing residents in Gaza governorate into forcible displacement under air strikes pushing them toward overcrowded concentration camps in al-Mawasi area, which lack the basic necessities of life, including water, food, health services and where illnesses spread dangerously," the Palestinian health ministry warned. 

The Israeli-designated "humanitarian zone" of al-Mawasi has been subject to repeated bombardment, despite Israel's claims that Palestinians will be safe there. 

On Monday, a disabled woman was killed by Israeli shelling in the area, Al Jazeera reported.