Israeli forces pushed towards the heart of Gaza City on Wednesday, placing at risk the lives of Palestinians who had stayed in hopes that growing pressure on Israel for a ceasefire would mean they would not lose their homes.
US president Donald Trump met leaders of Muslim countries at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, for talks that the Emirati state news agency said focused on a permanent ceasefire in the war as well as the release of Israeli hostages and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Mr Trump, who earlier condemned moves by several western countries to put pressure on Israel by recognising a Palestinian state, said a meeting with Israel would be next.
Israel has pressed on with its military campaign on Gaza City despite repeated calls for it to pull back, urging the population to move south.
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Hundreds of thousands have left the city in northern Gaza but many others have hesitated because of security risks and widespread hunger.
“We moved to the western area near the beach, but many families didn’t have the time, tanks took them by surprise,” said Thaer (35), a father of one from Tel Al-Hawa.
Israeli forces began closing in on the city of more than a million people in August, with Israel saying it aimed to destroy the last stronghold of Hamas militants whose attack on Israel and seizure of hostages triggered the war nearly two years ago.
On Wednesday, medics said at least 20 people were killed and many others wounded when Israeli air strikes hit a shelter housing displaced families near a market in the middle of the city. Two other people were killed in a house nearby, they said.
The Israeli military said that the strike had targeted two Hamas militants and that its forces tried to reduce harm to civilians in the area.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed people sifting through the rubble.
“We were sleeping in God’s care, there was nothing – they did not inform us, or not even give us a sign – it was a surprise,” said Sami Hajjaj. “There are children and women, around 200 people maybe, six to seven families – this square is full of families,” he said.
In the city’s Tel Al-Hawa suburb, tanks entered populated areas, trapping people in their homes, while more tanks were seen stationed close to Al-Quds Hospital, witnesses said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an oxygen station had been damaged.
Tanks have also advanced closer to Gaza’s largest hospital, Al Shifa, witnesses and Hamas media said. The Israeli military said the group’s militants had opened fire from within the hospital compound, which Hamas denied.
“We fear that these lies may be a prelude to another raid on the hospital,” said Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, in reference to several previous raids by Israeli forces.
Israel’s military released grainy aerial footage which appeared to show gunfire coming from two windows. The military did not immediately respond to Reuters queries about how it established that it was Hamas militants who had opened fire and at whom.
A security official in Hamas said that “criminal gangs” had opened fire at the hospital from outside the complex.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the conflicting accounts.
In Gaza’s south, seven people were killed in Nuseirat and near Rafah, medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which insists its attacks are aimed at ending Hamas rule of the enclave.
Israel has drawn widespread condemnation over its military conduct in Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed according to local health authorities, and famine has spread.
International frustration over the war in Gaza prompted some Israeli and US allies to recognise a Palestinian state this week. Support for the war in Israel has also wavered, with 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, still held by Hamas in Gaza and 465 soldiers killed in combat.
Hamas has acknowledged the death of some of its military leaders but has not disclosed the number of its fighters killed. The war began when Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
An international aid flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza said on Wednesday it was attacked overnight by drones in international waters off Greece, prompting Italy to send a navy ship to come to its assistance.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, with many lawyers and activists onboard, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The vessels were attacked by 12 drones in international waters 30 nautical miles off the Greek island of Gavdos, said Marikaiti Stasinou, a spokesperson for March to Gaza Greece, which is part of the flotilla.
All passengers are safe after drones exploded over the vessels, she told Reuters.
Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto said in a statement the sea convoy had been targeted by “currently unidentified perpetrators”. He expressed the “strongest condemnation” of the incident.
He added the Italian multipurpose frigate Fasan, previously sailing north of Crete, was “already on route” towards the flotilla “for possible rescue operations.”
Israel has repeatedly criticised the flotilla, accusing its activists of complicity with the Hamas militant group.
On Wednesday, the foreign ministry warned on X that Israel “would take the necessary measures” to stop it if it did not accept the alternative proposal to drop aid in an Israeli port, leaving it to Israeli authorities to take it to Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the overnight attack. – Reuters
Israel has accused the group of having ties to Hamas and has vowed to “take the necessary measures to prevent its entry into the combat zone”.
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