More than 800,000 in Gaza City face ‘catastrophe’ as Israel deepens invasion
More than 800,000 in Gaza City face ‘catastrophe’ as Israel deepens invasion
The Palestinian health ministry has warned that more than 800,000 civilians in Gaza City are facing catastrophic conditions as Israel intensifies its bombing campaign and deepens its ground invasion.
Heavy air strikes and remotely detonated robot explosions rocked the southern parts of the city late on Thursday and into Friday morning.
The escalating bombardment came as Israel issued new orders instructing residents to leave the city ahead of a planned full-scale occupation.
Earlier this week, Israel announced the launch of a ground offensive in Gaza City, as part of its broader plan to fully occupy the famine-stricken Palestinian enclave.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians are refusing to flee south, citing extreme danger along evacuation routes, dire living conditions in the south, food shortages, and fears of permanent displacement.
An estimated 800,000 people remain in Gaza City and face “catastrophic conditions”, the Palestinian health ministry told Al Araby TV on Friday.
“The remaining hospitals in the city are overwhelmed with the wounded and sick, offering only limited services,” the ministry said.
“Hospital occupancy in Gaza City exceeds 250 percent, severely affecting the quality of healthcare.”
The Gaza City Municipality said the exact number of people remaining in the city is unclear, but “hundreds of thousands of families” are crammed in the centre of the city.
“The public services system in Gaza City has collapsed, and the destruction of infrastructure is extremely severe,” the municipality added.
Thousands killed
Several people were killed in Friday’s attacks, including five civilians targeted while collecting firewood.
Since 13 August, when Israel began its heavy bombardment of Gaza City ahead of the ground invasion, at least 3,500 people have been killed by Israeli forces, more than 1,900 of them in Gaza City alone.
Israeli forces have killed more than 65,000 Palestinians since the genocide began almost two years ago, at an average daily rate of nearly 90.
More than 80 percent of those killed are civilians, including an estimated 20,000 children.
Meanwhile, a suspected Hamas attack killed four Israeli soldiers in southern Rafah on Thursday - an area Israeli forces had declared cleared months ago.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, also said on Thursday that the remaining Israeli captives “are spread across the neighbourhoods of Gaza City”.
The group warned that it would no longer “guarantee their safety as long as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu continues this operation,” referring to the assault on the city.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas leader based in Doha, echoed the message in a television interview, saying: “What happens to our people during the operation on Gaza City will also happen to the Israeli captives.”
