Israel storms Gaza City neighbourhood and orders Palestinians to go south

Israeli troops stormed a neighbourhood in Gaza City on Thursday, telling Palestinians as the tanks moved in that they must move south, Reuters has reported. The occupation forces also bombed the southern city of Rafah in what they claimed are the final stages of an operation against Hamas fighters there.

Residents of the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood in Gaza City said that they were taken by surprise by the Israeli tanks rolling in and firing in the early afternoon, with drones also attacking after overnight bombing. “It sounded as if the war was restarting, a series of bombings that destroyed several houses in our area and shook the buildings,” local resident Mohammad Jamal, 25, told Reuters via a chat app.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said that there were reports of people killed and wounded in Shuja’iyya, but its teams were unable to reach them because of the ongoing offensive. Three people were reported killed in the earlier bombing, with five killed in the Sabra neighbourhood.

The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said that it had detonated a pre-planted explosive device against an Israeli tank east of Shuja’iyya.

Israel accuses the resistance fighters of hiding among civilians and says that it warns displaced people to get out of the way of its operations against them.

“To all residents and displaced people in the Shuja’iyya area and the new neighbourhoods… For your safety, you must evacuate immediately south on Salah Al-Din Street to the humanitarian zone,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X.

#عاجل الى جميع السكان والنازحين المتواجدين في منطقة الشجاعية والاحياء الجديدة، التركمان والتفاح في بلوكات:
321, 607, 617, 618, 619, 622, 623, 632, 686, 720, 721, 722, 751, 730, 731, 732, 734, 735, 736, 737, 834, 887, 888, 889, 890, 891, 892, 893

من أجل سلامتكم – عليكم الاخلاء… pic.twitter.com/gf6tsdpYj1

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) June 27, 2024

Residents and local media said that the tanks had entered the area before the post appeared on social media and that people from the eastern suburb were running west under fire as Israel had blocked the road south. There was no other immediate comment from the Israeli military.

More than eight months into Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border incursion on 7 October, aid officials say that the enclave remains at high risk of famine, with almost half a million people facing “catastrophic” food insecurity.

“We are being starved in Gaza City, and are being hunted by tanks and planes with no hope that this war is ever ending,” said Jamal.

The death of another girl in Kamal Adwan Hospital late on Wednesday raised the number of children who have died of malnutrition and dehydration to at least 31, a Gaza health official said, adding that the war made recording such cases difficult.

Israel denies accusations it has created the famine conditions, and is using starvation as a weapon of war. The occupation state blames aid agencies for distribution problems and accuses Hamas of diverting aid, an allegation that the movement insists is not true.

In southern Gaza, drone footage on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed dozens of houses destroyed in parts of Rafah, with the Swedeya village on the western side of the city completely wiped out. There was no immediate Israeli military comment on the overnight military action.

International mediation backed by the US has failed to yield a ceasefire agreement although talks are continuing amid intense Western pressure for Gaza to receive more aid. Hamas says that any deal must bring an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will only accept temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.

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