Israeli tanks storm Gaza City districts, residents report heavy fire
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[July 08, 2024]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces bombarded Gaza City early on Monday and
columns of tanks advanced into the heart of the city from different
directions in what residents said was one of the heaviest attacks in the
Palestinian territory since the start of the war.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said it believed dozens of people were
killed but emergency teams were unable to reach them because of ongoing
offensives in Daraj and Tuffah in the east and Tel Al-Hawa, Sabra and
Rimal further west.
Residents said neighborhoods in Gaza City, which lies in the north of
the Gaza Strip, had been bombed throughout the night into the early
morning hours. Several multi-floor buildings have been destroyed, they
added.
One Israeli tank thrust pushed people towards the western road near the
Mediterranean, residents said.
"The enemy is behind us and the sea is in front of us, where we will we
go?" said Abdel-Ghani, one Gaza City resident, who did not give his full
name.
"Tank shells and missiles from the planes are falling on the roads and
houses like hell from a volcano. People are running in all directions
and no one knows where to go," Abdel-Ghani told Reuters via a chat app.
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The Israeli military said in a statement it was mounting an operation
against militant infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, and that it had taken
out of action more than 30 fighters.
The new Israeli offensive comes as Egypt, Qatar and the United States
stepped up efforts to mediate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and
the Palestinian militant group Hamas as the Gaza war entered its tenth
month.
The war was triggered on Oct. 7 when fighters led by Hamas, which
controlled Gaza, attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and
taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military
offensive since then, according to Gaza health officials.
Gaza residents said tanks advanced from at least three directions on
Monday and reached the heart of Gaza City, backed by heavy Israeli fire
from the air and ground. That forced thousands of people out of their
homes to look for safer shelter, which for many was impossible to find,
and some slept on the roadside.
Medics at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City had to evacuate
patients to the already crowded and under-equipped Indonesian Hospital
in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said. An
Israeli strike in the eastern suburb of Shejaia killed four
Palestinians, medics said.
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![](../images/070824PIX/news_m30.jpg)
Palestinians, who fled the eastern part of Gaza City after they were
ordered by Israeli army to evacuate their neighborhoods, carry their
belongings, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, July 7, 2024.
REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Israel's military said it had warned civilians about its operations
and it said a route would be opened so civilians could evacuate from
affected areas. It said fighters with Hamas, and allied group
Islamic Jihad, were hiding behind civilian infrastructure to attack
Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said they fired
mortar bombs against Israeli forces during the raid in southwest
Gaza City.
HOPES FOR A PAUSE
Hopes among Gaza residents of a pause in the fighting had revived
after Hamas accepted a key part of a U.S. ceasefire proposal,
prompting an official in the Israeli negotiating team to say there
was a real chance of a deal.
Hamas has dropped a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent
ceasefire before it would sign an agreement. Instead, the militant
group said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout
the six-week first phase, a Hamas source told Reuters on Saturday.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the deal must
not prevent Israel from resuming fighting until its war objectives
are met. Those goals were defined at the start of the war as
dismantling Hamas' military and governing capabilities, as well as
returning Israeli hostages.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday it would be
a huge mistake to stop the Israeli offensive now.
Smotrich, who heads a pro-settler party which is part of
Netanyahu's governing coalition, wrote on social media platform X:
"Hamas is collapsing and begging for a ceasefire. This is the time
to squeeze the neck until we crush and break the enemy. To stop now,
just before the end, and let him recover and fight us again, is a
senseless folly."
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Christian Lowe; Editing by Angus
MacSwan and Ros Russell)
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