How Israel is using robots, exploding vehicles and paratroopers to erase Gaza City

Israel announced on Monday that it had launched a ground offensive on Gaza City. In fact, this operation is nothing more than one link in a chain. 

The northern Gaza Strip, where the city is located, was already under blockade and attack.

Since the end of March, around 800,000 civilians in Gaza City have endured bombardment, starvation and medical deprivation.

And though Israel- and US-run aid centres in the south have been the scene of nearly 2,000 Palestinians being killed, such facilities have not even been operating in the north.

Wary of attracting too much international attention, orders were given to the Israeli military in late March to keep operations at a lower intensity. 

“There was a lower-level operational posture, but the operations never stopped,” an Israeli army colonel told Middle East Eye, noting that attacks on Gaza City had been ongoing for months before the latest ground offensive.

According to UN data, between March and the end of June, more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza per month.

Since 11 August, when Israel ramped up attacks in anticipation of its ground offensive, more than 3,500 Palestinians have been killed across the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

More than 44 percent of those were in Israeli-designated "safe zones" that Palestinians in the north are being forced to flee to.

The Israeli tanks rolling into Gaza City today are nothing more than an intensification of attacks that had never ceased.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims the new offensive is necessary to rid the area of Hamas fighters, who he claims are holding captives there.

However, a second Israeli army colonel told MEE it remains uncertain whether there is indeed a significant Hamas presence in Gaza City.

A third Israeli military officer, who was involved in planning intelligence-based operations in the north, told MEE that Israel does not have precise intelligence on Hamas or the captives.

“Is Hamas there? Are we sure? They could be anywhere. Are the hostages there? We don’t know,” he said.

“For a long time, we have combed through the city with low-intensity manipulative strikes and intelligence channels. We targeted every suspicious vehicle, every person. Even if they are there, it is becoming harder by the day to say they have revealed themselves.”

Depopulation

It is clear that Israel’s true aim in Gaza City is to drive the population south.

Since August, the military has used more than 180 booby-trapped robots or explosive-packed remote-controlled vehicles to devastate the city.

Tel al-Hawa, Sheik Ridwan, Tuffah, Jabal Nazla, and the Saftawi Street area are among the main places where Israel has demolished civilian buildings.

In these areas, Israeli officers said, more than 200 buildings containing civilian homes have been destroyed.

To capitalise on the operation’s destructive effect, the Israeli army is also deploying armoured units into Gaza City, which is already largely devastated.

Israel’s 162nd and 98th Paratrooper Divisions are advancing through the city accompanied by armoured units.

So far, contrary to earlier Israeli claims, the troops have not been met with intense confrontations with Hamas. The 36th Division will move into Gaza City within days, signalling an expanded offensive.

Israeli officers approach the situation with a mindset of collective punishment.

“It’s fair to assume that most of the men and young people who stay in Gaza City are working for Hamas,” one of the officers told MEE, repeating a false Israeli narrative that has been used to justify the killing of thousands of civilians.

Roughly half the residents of Gaza City remain. For the Israeli military officers in charge, that entire remaining civilian population of 400,000 people is seen as a target.

Israeli officers say the army intends to fully encircle the city within a week.

The coastal al-Rashid Street and Salah al-Deen Street to the east will be sealed off, while the Netzarim corridor that bisects the Gaza Strip will be reinforced as a de facto border.

“From then on, we’ll have no reason not to treat everyone in the north as Hamas,” the first Israeli colonel said.

This month, Israel has issued 13 expulsion orders, almost all of which were aimed at emptying the north of its inhabitants.

Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, as the new offensive is known, is a calculated campaign of territorial reconfiguration coordinated with the United States.

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly summit that begins on Monday, Israel is preparing to bring the north fully under its control.

According to the Israeli officers, behind the scenes there is a belief that, if the Gaza City operation goes according to plan, Netanyahu plans to declare victory at the UN on 26 September.