Israel continued heavy strikes on Gaza City and across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, targeting tunnels and booby-trapped buildings in operations that, according to local health officials, left at least 60 Palestinians dead.
The escalation comes just days before 10 nations — including Australia, Belgium, Britain and Canada — are set to officially recognise a Palestinian state on Monday, ahead of next week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Israel has stepped up its demolition drive in Gaza City this week, bringing down high-rise buildings alongside a continuing ground assault.
Troops holding the city’s eastern suburbs have been striking Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al-Hawa, areas they may use to push further into central and western Gaza. Most residents are now sheltering there.
The military says around 20 towers have been destroyed in the past two weeks, while Israeli media reports estimate more than 500,000 people have fled Gaza City since early September.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, disputes Israel’s figures, claiming fewer than 300,000 people have left Gaza City and about 900,000 remain, including Israeli hostages.
On Telegram, its armed wing shared an image of hostages, warning their lives were in danger from Israel’s ongoing assault.
The group also says Israeli strikes since August 11 have damaged or destroyed over 1,800 homes and more than 13,000 tents for displaced families.
Gazan health officials report that nearly two years of fighting have killed over 65,000 Palestinians, left most structures in ruins, triggered famine and forced repeated mass displacement.
Israel rejects this, arguing the hunger crisis is overstated and blaming Hamas for worsening the situation.
Israel’s COGAT, the military body that manages aid to Gaza, said Hamas fired on U.N. teams Saturday and blocked a new relief route in the south.
Hamas denied this, accusing armed gangs backed by Israeli firepower of attacking and looting aid trucks.
As nations like Australia, Britain and Canada back Palestine, Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu has refused to back down. In a strongly worded statement published in PMO, condemning the move, PM Netanyahu vowed to give a response to countries after his US visit. “There will be no Palestinian state.
The response to the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States,” Netanyahu said.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Out of those, 48 remain in Gaza, with about 20 believed alive.
