Israel strikes high-rise building and threatens to hit more in Gaza City
offensive
[September 06, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, JULIA FRANKEL and BASSEM MROUE
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 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 condemnation
abroad.
Palestinians said Friday's strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal,
an upscale neighborhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari
said people fleeing Israeli operations elsewhere 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 a
combat zone. 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 widespread protests 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 prolonging the war in order to
satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of reaching a ceasefire
with Hamas 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.
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Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli airstrike on a
high-rise building in Gaza City, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, after the
Israeli army issued a prior warning. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)
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.
Settlers attack Palestinians in the West Bank
Israeli settlers descended on the Palestinian village of Khallet A-Daba
in the occupied West Bank overnight, attacking residents with clubs
and pepper spray, said Palestinians who arrived at the village in
the attack’s aftermath.
Video obtained from Palestinian activist Adeeb Huraini, 26, showed
an older man with cuts on his head and leg, and a woman whose
headscarf was soaked in blood.
Another video shows Basel Adra, a local activist, holding a baby
with blood on its head, calling for help and saying there is “a lot
of blood.” Adra said nine Palestinians were hospitalized after the
attack.
Adra helped direct “No Other Land,” an Oscar-winning documentary
about settler violence in the area. The Israeli military demolished
much of the village last month.
The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Protests against U.S. sanctions on Palestinian civil society
Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups protested new U.S.
sanctions aimed at Palestinian civil society, saying in a joint
statement that they would inflict "severe harm on key human rights
organizations that have worked for decades to protect Palestinians.”
The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions on three
Palestinian groups — Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center
for Human Rights. The new measures would make it harder for them to
receive donations from the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was targeting the
groups over their involvement with the International Criminal
Court's efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute Israelis.
Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his
former defense minister, alleging crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The United States and Israel have rejected the allegations and the
U.S. has sanctioned a number of ICC judges and prosecutors.
“The U.S. is effectively punishing the very act of addressing human
rights violations and abuses,” said Ammar Dwaik, head of the
Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights. "This
criminalizes accountability and sets a dangerous precedent worldwide
that governments can silence investigators.”
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Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Mroue from Beirut.
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