Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approving plans to expand the war there.
Israel has since said it will launch a new offensive and seize control of Gaza City, which it captured shortly after the war’s outbreak in October 2023, before pulling out.
The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable on when its forces would enter the area, but according to the civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal, airstrikes on Gaza City have been increasing for the past three days.
Bassal said the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra have been hit “with very heavy airstrikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings”.
“For the third consecutive day, the Israeli occupation is intensifying its bombardment,” said the spokesperson.
“The Israeli occupation is using all types of weapons in that area — bombs, drones, and also highly explosive munitions that cause massive destruction to civilian homes,” he added.
Bassal said that at least 24 people had been killed across Gaza on Tuesday, including several casualties caused by strikes on Gaza City.
“The bombardment has been extremely intense for the past two days. With every strike, the ground shakes. There are martyrs under the rubble that no one can reach because the shelling hasn’t stopped,” said Majed al-Hosary, a resident in Zeitoun.
Netanyahu’s plan to expand military control over Gaza has increased a global outcry over the widespread devastation of the territory and a hunger crisis spreading among Gaza’s largely displaced population of over two million.
The health ministry in Gaza has reported that in the last 24 hours, five additional individuals, including two children, have succumbed to starvation and malnutrition.
The new deaths raised the number of deaths from the same causes to 227, including 103 children, since the war started, it added.
Israel disputes the malnutrition fatality figures reported by the health ministry in Gaza.
The crisis in Gaza started after Hamas-led militants stormed over the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, left much of the enclave in ruins and wrought a humanitarian disaster with grave shortages of food, drinking water and safe shelter.
Netanyahu, whose far-right ultranationalist coalition allies want an outright Israeli takeover and re-settlement of Gaza, has vowed the war will not end until Hamas is eradicated.
