Israel Pounds Gaza City Outskirts as Ground Assault Looms

By Jerry Williams

Israeli forces have ramped up strikes on Gaza City’s outskirts, pushing closer to a full-scale ground offensive aimed at seizing control of the Hamas stronghold, residents and officials said Wednesday.

Hospitals in Gaza reported that Israeli airstrikes killed more than 30 Palestinians—many of them women and children—in the city’s northern and western districts. The assaults come amid mounting preparations by the Israeli military to conquer Gaza City, where more than one million Palestinians remain trapped.

“We will continue striking Hamas’s centres of gravity until it is defeated and the hostages are returned,” vowed Israeli military chief of staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi.

The intensifying military campaign has drawn alarm from international aid groups and the United Nations, which warned of catastrophic consequences for displaced civilians. A famine was declared in the city just last month, and humanitarian agencies say the latest attacks are worsening an already dire situation.

Despite the escalation, public pressure on the Israeli government is also surging. Protesters took to the streets on Wednesday in what they dubbed a “day of disruption,” demanding an immediate agreement to end the war in exchange for the release of all hostages held in Gaza. Of the 48 Israeli and foreign hostages believed to remain, only 20 are thought to be alive.

The demonstrations reflected growing frustration within Israel over the ongoing war and the deadlock in negotiations with Hamas. Meanwhile, residents in Gaza brace for further bloodshed as the Israeli offensive closes in.