The Israeli army ordered the residents of Gaza City to evacuate a dedicated “humanitarian area”, where its forces are pressing deeper into the city, which increased the main attack aimed at controlling the area.
This announcement came after President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States was in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas, which earlier released a video showing two Israeli hostages who were seized from a music festival during terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023.
In his speech to the residents on Saturday, the Israeli defense spokesman Avichay Adri urged civilians to move from Gaza City in the north to the safe area of Mawasi, a coastal area in the southern city of Khan Yunis. He said that there will find “food supplies, tents, medicines and medical materials.”
In a separate publication, he pressed the “Gaza population” to leave early “and join the thousands who have already moved there in the past days and weeks.”
The Israeli Defense Army is carrying out heavy strikes in Gaza City for weeks, and on the northern suburbs, a few miles from its center.
On Friday, its forces destroyed a tall tower in a thick part of the city. The Israeli Defense Army said it had warned civilians in advance – and without evidence – it was used by Hamas. The footage of the Palestinians showed running for safety with the collapse of the building within seconds.
The administration of its Mottha Tower said that it was used for the displaced and denied that it had been used in anything other than civil purposes.
Israel is expected to replace that the attack on Gaza City – declared the “dangerous fighting zone” by Israel – replaces hundreds of thousands of people, most of them have already uprooted several times during the war. Relief groups warn that the attack can deepen the humanitarian catastrophe in the pocket and has already attracted international condemnation.
The leading body in the world announced the starvation in Gaza for the first time last month. The Israeli denied reports of increased hunger in the pocket.
“The lock was raised from the gates of hell in Gaza,” Israeli Defense Secretary Katz said on Friday, adding: “When the door opens, it will not be closed.”
His comments came after an Israeli military spokesman said on Thursday that he now controls about 40 % of the city, where about a million people lived before the war. The military controls about 75 % of Gaza.
Israel launched its military campaign after the terrorist attacks led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which witnessed 1,200 people who were killed and about 250 people seized a hostage.
Since then, Palestinian health officials say more than 64,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, while a lot of pocket has been reduced to ruins.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, and ordered the army to seize the largest urban center in the pocket. He also pushed to the deal of everything or nothing that would see all the hostages that were released at the same time and surrendered Hamas.
Hamas released a video on Friday about two Israeli hostages captured on October 7. 2023, one of them said he was held in Gaza City.
Jay Gilboa Dal and Luna Olin are among the 48 people who are still holding them in Gaza, with 20 years who are still alive.
Gilboa-dalal, who was exhausted, spoke about three and a half minutes, saying that he was being held in Gaza City with other prisoners and feared that he would be killed in Israel’s assault.
Some shots were taken in a car in a video of August 28. NBC News could not independently verify when recording it. OHel was also seen shortly in the shots.
Elsewhere, Trump told reporters on Friday that Washington was in “very deep” negotiations with Hamas, but the situation will become “difficult” and “bad” if Hamas did not launch all hostages.
Trump said, “We have told them all, they allowed them all to go out. It will happen better for them, but if you don’t let them all, this will be a difficult situation, it will be bad,” adding that Hamas “asks about some things that are fine,” without explaining.