Israel’s army said it bombed a Gaza City residential tower after issuing evacuation orders, just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military was “deepening” its assault on Gaza’s key urban centre.
The high-rise was the third such residential tower to be struck in as many days.
Israel has not publicly announced the start of a major offensive to seize the city, which Mr Netanyahu’s cabinet approved last month, but the military has intensified bombings and operations in the area for weeks, in a bid to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
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“The IDF (Israeli military) struck a high-rise building that was used by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the area of Gaza City,” the military said in a statement referring to Al-Roya Tower, saying it had been used “to monitor the location of… troops in the area”.
Hamas has denied using residential buildings for military purposes.
The strike on Al-Roya Tower left one person dead, the Al-Quds hospital said in a statement.
Palestinians run away in panic from the area
The Israeli army had issued two evacuation orders for Al-Roya, urging residents of the complex and the surrounding area to move south toward the Al-Mawasi “humanigtarian zone” in Khan Younis.
The strike on the tower came hours after Mr Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet that the military had intensified its offensive in Gaza City.
“We are deepening the manoeuvre on the outskirts of Gaza City and within Gaza City itself,” Mr Netanyuahu said at the start of the cabinet meeting.
“We are destroying terrorist infrastructure, we are demolishing identified terror towers.”
On Friday and yesterday, the air force had levelled two other residential high-rises under the same claim that Hamas had used them as observation points.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump issued what he called his “last warning” to Hamas, urging the Palestinian militant group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.
“The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well,” Mr Trump said in a post his Truth Social platform.
“I have warned Hamas about the con sequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one.”
‘Like an earthquake’
Witness Mohammed Al-Nazli said that the bombing of the Al-Roya tower “felt like an earthquake” and that the building was “completely destroyed and turned to rubble”.
Commenting on the army’s levelling of high-rises over the past days, Mr Nazli said it was “extremely terrifying, and we don’t know how much more we can endure”.
Mr Netanyahu said that around 100,000 residents had already left Gaza City, accusing Hamas of trying to prevent evacuations and of using civilians as “human shields”.
The escalation has fuelled fears of a further deterioration in already dire humanitarian conditions for Palestinians living in the area.
Yesterday, Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets over western neighbourhoods of Gaza City urging residents to evacuate, witnesses and an AFP journalist said.
Mustafa al-Jamal, who lives in Gaza city said that he did not plan to leave.
He said the area in southern Gaza residents were told to evacuate to has been repeatedly bombed despite being declared “a safe zone”.
“Where can we go? We have no money, no tent, no house, no food.”
Israeli protesters took to the streets on Saturday to call on their government to reverse the decision to seize Gaza City, fearing for the fate of hostages believed to be held there.
“I am mortified by the fact that the Israeli army is conquering Gaza right now, for the hostages, for the soldiers, for the people in Gaza – this is a political war,” said Edith, a protester in Jerusalem who declined to give her full name.
