By David Wu
Copyright news
Israel’s Defence Forces’ Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, told residents that soldiers had begun “destroying Hamas’s infrastructure”.
“Gaza is considered a dangerous combat zone and staying in the area puts you at risk. Move as quickly as possible via Al-Rashid Street to the areas designated south of the Gaza Valley by vehicle or on foot,” he wrote to X.
Speaking at a corruption trial, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “has begun an intensive operation in Gaza City”.
He asked to be excused from making his testimony due to “important things happening”.
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Israel’s military said two of its army divisions, involving tens of thousands of troops, have expanded ground operations in Gaza City.
It is reported the soldiers will push into the city in coming day and weeks in hopes of eliminating remaining Hamas terrorists, a goal it had set since the October 7 attacks.
Only hours earlier, senior officials from the IDF told a number of American outlets its soldiers have entered Gaza City and flagged more troops are on the way.
One Israeli source told CNN the offensive will be “phased and gradual”.
The operation is said to have started on the outskirts in the northern part of city, which has been the focus of recent strikes taking out high-rise residential buildings.
Overnight it continued, with residents saying they were subjected to “heavy, relentless” bombardment that claimed at least 41 lives and injured dozens more.
Then, not long after, a United Nations commission of inquiry said it found Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, took to social media to say “Gaza is burning”.
“The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he wrote to X on Monday morning (local time).
“We will not relent and we will not go back – until the completion of the mission.”
Bombardment continues
Residents say Israeli’s military has intensified its attacks in recent days.
Israel had flagged it would only begin its next phase of the war after the evacuation of residents, however, only a fraction are believed to have fled.
One 25-year-old Gazan local told media that the “danger keeps increasing” and he has heard screams of trapped locals under rubble.
The IDF last week ordered all Palestinians to leave “immediately” and move south to a unilaterally designated “humanitarian area”.
Humanitarian groups and nations around the world had cautioned against the occupation of Gaza over concerns it would worsen conditions for residents.
Families of Israeli hostages have also rallied in the streets, begging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to not continue striking Gaza fearing their loved ones could be killed in the crossfire.
Some were pictured outside the Israeli leader’s Jerusalem residence on Monday night.
“Come out and say how you lied to me to my face and told me you were going to bring an agreement and bring everyone back,” the mother of one captive shouted.
“You know how to meet families in a closed room without media – and you sell them nonsense. It’s over.”
It is understood she was talking about Mr Netanyahu’s wife, Sara.
There are believed to be about 20 Israeli hostages still alive in the war-torn enclave.
‘Short window’ for ceasefire deal
The start of the operation happened hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel for Qatar amid negotiations for a ceasefire.
“The Israeli’s have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen,” he told reporters.
“We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks. Our number one choice is that this ends through a negotiated settlement where Hamas says, ‘We’re going to demilitarise, we’re no longer going to pose a threat’.”
Mr Rubio earlier met with Mr Netanyahu, telling the Israeli PM that he has the full support of the Trump administration.
Hamas last month accepted a ceasefire proposal and were ready for negotiations when Israel launched an attack on Doha, terminating discussions.
Israel committed genocide: UN report
United Nations investigators on Tuesday accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza in a bid to “destroy the Palestinians” and blamed Israel’s PM and other top officials for incitement.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak on behalf of the world body and has faced harsh Israeli criticism, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.
“The responsibility lies with the State of Israel,” he said.
The commission, tasked with investigating the rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, published its latest report nearly two years after the war erupted in Gaza following Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel.
Nearly 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
The vast majority of Gazans have been displaced at least once, with more mass-displacement underway as Israel ramps up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, where the UN has declared a full-blown famine.
The COI concluded that Israeli authorities and forces had since October 2023 committed “four of the five genocidal acts” listed in the 1948 Genocide Convention.
These are “killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”.
Israel dismissed the report’s findings.
“Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry,” a statement from the foreign ministry said.
