Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza City and hospital says at least 32 are
dead
[September 13, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A barrage of airstrikes killed at least
32 people across Gaza City as Israel ramps up its offensive there and
urges Palestinians to evacuate, medical staff reported Saturday.
The dead included 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa
Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
Israel in recent day has intensified strikes across Gaza City,
destroying multiple high-rise buildings and accusing Hamas of putting
surveillance equipment in them.
On Saturday the army said it struck another high-rise used by Hamas in
the area of Gaza City. It has ordered residents to leave, part of an
offensive aimed at taking over the largest Palestinian city, which it
says is Hamas' last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain
there, struggling under conditions of famine.
One of the strikes overnight and into early morning Saturday hit a house
in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a family of 10, including a
mother and her three children, said health officials. The Palestinian
Football Association said a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club,
Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed in the strikes with 14 members of his
family. Images showed the strikes hitting followed by plumes of smoke.
Israel's army didn't immediately respond to questions about the strikes.
In the wake of escalating hostilities and calls to evacuate the city,
the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, according to
aid workers. However, many families remain stuck because of the cost of
finding transportation and housing, while others having been displaced
too many times and don’t want to move again, not trusting that anywhere
in the enclave is safe.
In a message on social media Saturday, Israel's army told the remaining
Palestinians in Gaza City to leave “immediately” and move south to what
it's calling a humanitarian zone. Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said
that more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City — from
an estimated 1 million who live in the area of north Gaza around the
city.
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Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli military strike on a
building in Gaza City, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Yousef Al
Zanoun)
The United Nations however, put the number of people who have left
at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The U.N. and
aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of
people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. Sites in
southern Gaza where Israel is telling people to go are overcrowded,
according to the U.N., and it can cost money to move, which many
people don't have.
An initiative headed by the U.N. to bring temporary shelters into
Gaza said more than 86,000 tents and other supplies were still
awaiting clearance to enter Gaza as of last week.
Gaza's Health Ministry said Saturday that seven people including
children died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24
hours, raising the toll to 420, including 145 children, since the
war began.
The bombardment Friday night across Gaza City came days after Israel
launched a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, intensifying its
campaign against the militant group and endangering negotiations
over ending the war in Gaza.
Families of the hostages still held in Gaza are pleading with Israel
to halt the offensive, worried it'll kill their relatives. There are
48 hostages still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be
alive.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern
Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200,
mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least
64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does
not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half
of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities
have been completely destroyed and around 90% of some 2 million
Palestinians have been displaced.
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