JERUSALEM. Israel’s military continued its assault on Gaza City and the wider Gaza Strip on Saturday, dismantling underground shafts and booby-trapped structures in operations that killed at least 60 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The offensive comes ahead of Monday’s expected move by 10 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Britain, and Canada, to formally recognise an independent Palestinian state, just before the annual U.N. General Assembly leaders’ summit.
Israel’s demolition campaign targeting high-rise buildings in Gaza City has escalated in recent days, alongside a ground assault. Israeli forces, which control the city’s eastern suburbs, have been striking the Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al-Hawa districts, positions that could allow them to advance toward central and western Gaza City, where most residents are sheltering.
The military estimates it has demolished up to 20 tower blocks in Gaza City over the past two weeks and believes more than 500,000 people have left the city since early September, according to Israeli media. Hamas disputes those figures, claiming fewer than 300,000 have left and around 900,000 remain, including Israeli hostages.
Hamas’ military wing earlier released an image montage of hostages on Telegram, warning their lives were at risk due to Israel’s operations. The group also said that since August 11, Israel has destroyed or damaged more than 1,800 residential buildings in Gaza City and demolished over 13,000 tents sheltering displaced families.
Nearly two years of conflict have left more than 65,000 Palestinians dead, widespread famine, and the destruction of most of Gaza’s infrastructure, according to Gaza health officials. Israel disputes these accounts, arguing that the hunger crisis has been overstated and placing responsibility on Hamas.
The Israeli military body COGAT, which oversees aid into Gaza, said Hamas fired at U.N. teams on Saturday and blocked the opening of a new humanitarian route in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas rejected the claims, saying that criminal gangs with protection from Israeli firepower are looting aid convoys. The United Nations has not yet commented.
“We have been calling day and night (for) U.N. organizations to carry out their humanitarian and relief work,” a senior Hamas media official told Reuters.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led attacks in Israel killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Of those, 48 remain in Gaza, with around 20 believed to be alive.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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