'We don't know the taste of sleep': Gaza City in peril as Israel plans to seize control

Israeli attacks killed at least 40 people in Gaza yesterday.

CONDITIONS IN GAZA City are rapidly deteriorating as Israel plans to capture full control of the city and force out its residents, with Palestinians in the area describing ever-worsening hardships.

Israeli attacks killed at least 40 people in Gaza yesterday, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence Agency.

At the same time as Israel’s fatal attacks on Gaza continue, Israel is planning to seize full control of Gaza City, forcing Palestinians to southern parts of Gaza.

Earlier this week, the Irish government joined 26 other countries in a collective statement decrying that suffering in Gaza has reached “unimaginable levels”.

“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” said the statement, signed for Ireland by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris.

“Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised,” it said.

Gaza’s civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in Gaza City are rapidly deteriorating, especially in the Zeitun neighbourhood, with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment.

The spokesman added that about 50,000 people are estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, “the majority of whom are without food or water” and arelacking “the basic necessities of life”.

In recent days, Gaza City residents have reported more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including Zeitun, while earlier this week, Hamas denounced “aggressive” Israeli ground incursions.

Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to seize Gaza City and neighbouring camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory.

On Friday, the Israeli military confirmed its troops were operating in Zeitun.

Ghassan Kashko, 40, who shelters with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, said: “We don’t know the taste of sleep.”

He said air strikes and tank shelling were causing “explosions… that don’t stop”.

Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had been carrying out a “sustained offensive in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, particularly in Zeitun”. It said the military was targeting the area with warplanes, artillery and drones.

The Israeli plan to expand the war has received international condemnation as well as domestic opposition.

UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in Gaza, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.

According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the 40 Palestinians killed yesterday were shot by Israeli troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and in the south.

Israel has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson denounced Israel’s takeover plan this week and also took aim at world leaders who are not doing enough to try to stop the devastation in Gaza.

“Governments that are not using all the tools at their disposal to halt the unfolding genocide in Gaza are increasingly complicit,” Robinson said.

“Political leaders have the power and the legal obligation to apply measures to pressure this Israeli government to end its atrocity crimes,” she said.

“This is all the more urgent in light of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Gaza City takeover plan. President Trump has the leverage to compel a change of course. He must use it now.”

Additional reporting by AFP