DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up operations aimed at seizing control of the famine-stricken city of some 1 million Palestinians. Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said.
The military accused Hamas militants of using other high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out “precise, targeted strikes” on militant infrastructure in the coming days.
Israel has begun mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive, which has sparked opposition domestically and .
Palestinians said Friday’s strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, an upscale neighborhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said in the city had sought shelter in and around the building. Satellite imagery showed a large number of tents nearby.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed in the strike.
Israel said it struck the building because it was used by Hamas for surveillance. Photos of the building taken before Friday’s strike showed that its roof was already heavily damaged from earlier raids.
Fears grow as Israeli forces advance
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be . Parts of the city are already considered “red zones” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
That has left residents on edge, including many who returned after fleeing the city in the initial stages of the war, which has already displaced around 90% of the territory’s population.
The city’s Shifa Hospital said 27 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight into Friday, including six members of a single family. The Israeli military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants operate in densely-populated areas.
The offensive has also sparked among Israelis who fear it will endanger hostages still held in Gaza, some of whom are believed to be in Gaza City. There are 48 such hostages, 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive.
The protesters accuse Netanyahu of in order to satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of to bring the hostages home.
“The government of Israel is waging a war of attrition against us, against the citizens of Israel as a whole, and against the families of the hostages in particular,” said Lishay Lavi-Miran, the wife of hostage Omri Miran.
Hamas video shows hostages
Hamas released a propaganda video Friday of two hostages in Gaza City. The video shows Guy Gilboa-Dalal in a car, at one point joined by another hostage, Alon Ohel.
Gilboa-Dalal speaks, likely under duress, pleading for an end to the war and the return of hostages. He was last seen in a video more than six months ago with another hostage, Evyatar David, as they watched other hostages being released during a ceasefire.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel that triggered the war on Oct. 7, 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up around half the dead.
Israel says the war will continue until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and that it will retain open-ended security control of the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Mroue from Beirut.
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