Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 27 Aug
THE ISRAELI MILITARY is pressing ahead with preparations to launch a full invasion of Gaza City, with tanks and troops closing in around the already devastated population centre.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military wrote on social media that the evacuation of the city, the region’s most-populous area, is “inevitable”.
Israeli troops are “operating on the outskirts of Gaza City” and scouting locations they deem likely to be linked to Hamas.
Aid groups have repeatedly condemned the planned invasion and occupation of the city, saying the evacuation plan is both unrealistic and dangerous. The vast majority of the population of Gaza has already been displaced at least once since October 2023.
The plan was also met with heavy opposition in Israel, particularly from the opposition and the families of people still held hostage by Hamas.
The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.
In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately.
“We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in,” he told AFP.
In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood today, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight.
“Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night,” said Tala al-Khatib, 29.
“Some neighbours have fled… But wherever you flee, death follows you,” she said.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is set to hold a “large meeting” today to discuss the future of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the president would host top officials at the White House later this evening to thrash out a detailed plan for the Palestinian territory.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together,” Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.
The talks come as Israel has yet to respond to a draft ceasefire agreement already accepted by Hamas.
Pressure is mounting domestically on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put an end to the conflict, although he has pressed on regardless throughout the nearly two-year war on Gaza.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed last week to destroy Gaza City if Hamas does not agree to end the war on Israel’s terms.
Israel has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians since October 2023, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.
A famine, caused by Israel’s stranglehold on the entry of food into Gaza has officially been declared by the UN, but today Israel demanded the report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) be retracted.
“Israel demands that the IPC will retract immediately its fabricated report and publish a notice,” the director general of Israel’s foreign ministry, Eden Bar Tal, told a press conference.
Bar Tal called the IPC a “politicised” institute that is “working for an evil terror organisation”, echoing numerous claims Israeli officials have made about UN agencies throughout the conflict.
With reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill and AFP
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say