Israel's defense minister says Gaza City could be destroyed
[August 22, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAM METZ
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister warned Friday
that Gaza’s largest city would be destroyed unless Hamas yields to
Israel’s terms, as the world’s leading authority on food crises said the
city was gripped by famine from fighting and blockade.
A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorize
the military to mount a major operation to seize Gaza City, Defense
Minister Israel Katz warned that the enclave’s largest city could “turn
into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas reduced to rubble earlier in the war.
“The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’ murderers and
rapists in Gaza — until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the
war,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
He restated Israel’s cease-fire demands: the release of all hostages and
Hamas’ complete disarmament. Hamas has said it would release captives in
exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarmament without the
creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu on Thursday said he had instructed officials “to begin
immediate negotiations” to release hostages and end the war on
acceptable terms — Israel’s first public response to the latest
ceasefire proposal.
With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the wide-scale
operation in Gaza City could start within days.
Gaza City is Hamas’ military and governing stronghold, atop of what
Israel believes is an extensive tunnel network. It is also sheltering
hundreds of thousands of civilians and still houses some of the strip’s
critical infrastructure and health facilities.
Hamas said earlier this week that it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal
from Arab mediators, which — if accepted by Israel — could forestall the
offensive. The parties do not negotiate directly and similar
announcements have been made in the past that did not lead to
ceasefires.
The proposal outlines a phased deal involving hostage and prisoner
exchanges and a pullback of Israeli troops, while talks continue on a
longer-term cease-fire. Israeli leaders have resisted such terms since
abandoning a similar agreement earlier this year amid divisions within
Netanyahu’s coalition and strong opposition from his right.
Many Israelis fear an assault could doom the roughly 20 hostages who
have survived captivity since Hamas-led militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
Aid groups and international leaders warn it would worsen Gaza’s
humanitarian crisis.
The logistics of evacuating civilians are expected to be daunting. Many
residents say repeated displacement is pointless since nowhere in Gaza
is safe, while medical groups warn Israel’s calls to move patients south
is unworkable, with no facilities to receive them.
But Netanyahu has argued the offensive is the surest way to free
captives and crush Hamas.
“These two things — defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages — go
hand in hand,” Netanyahu said Thursday while touring a command center
near in southern Israel.
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People sit near makeshift burners, used to extract fuel from melted
plastic, where displaced Palestinians try to make a living selling
homemade fuel along the Sea Road, at dusk in the south of Gaza City,
Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Since 251 people were taken hostage more than 22 months ago,
ceasefire agreements and other deals have accounted for the vast
majority of the 148 released, including the bodies of eight deceased
hostages.
Israel has only managed to rescue eight hostages alive and retrieved
the bodies of 49 others. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, about 20 of
whom Israel believes to be alive.
Airstrike hits area ahead of broader offensive
Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said at least 17 Palestinians were killed
Friday as Israel escalates its activity in the area in the lead-up
to its broader planned offensive.
An Israeli airstrike hit a school in Sheikh Radwan, a Gaza City
neighborhood where tens of Palestinians shelter in makeshift tents
in the schoolyard. It killed at least seven people, according to an
eyewitness and hospital records.
Israel’s military said they weren’t aware of a strike in the area.
The strike is part of Israel’s ongoing push in Gaza City, where the
military says it is operating and witnesses have reported intense
bombardment in the days since Israel approved its plans to take the
city.
Amal Aboul Aas, who is now sheltering in Gaza City after being
displaced four times, said the explosions were so intense he
couldn’t sleep, yet he couldn’t leave either.
“We do not have the money, the resources, or the energy to evacuate
again. I just wish for a quick death right where I am here because I
am not going anywhere. Eventually one of these missiles will hit
me,” he told AP.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Thursday that at least 62,192
Palestinians have been killed in the war. Another two people have
died from malnutrition-related causes, bringing the total number of
such deaths to 271, including 112 children, the Health Ministry
said.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by
medical professionals. It does not say whether those killed by
Israeli fire are civilians or combatants, but it says around half
were women and children. The U.N. and many independent experts
consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime
casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.
Hamas-led militants started the war when they attacked Israel on
Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and
taking hostages.
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Metz reported from Jerusalem. Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel
Aviv, Israel.
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