Israeli aircraft and tanks intensified attacks in and around Gaza City as the military prepared for an operation to seize the territory's largest urban area, placing nearly one million people under growing pressure. Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said 64 people were killed and almost 300 injured in Israeli attacks across the territory during the preceding 24 hours.
Residents described continuing explosions in northern and eastern Gaza City. The Zeitoun and Shejayia districts were struck from the air overnight, while tanks fired on the Sabra neighborhood, according to BBC News. Farther north, Israeli troops returned to Jabalia and demolished buildings in the refugee camp.
The Israel Defense Forces said its activity in Jabalia would allow fighting to expand into other areas and prevent Hamas fighters from returning. The broader Gaza City operation had not yet begun in full, but Israel was calling up about 60,000 reservists. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had announced an intention to take control of the entire Gaza Strip after indirect negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release broke down.
Israel said it planned to move Gaza City's population to shelters in the south before ground forces advanced. Many residents had already been displaced repeatedly during the war. The United Nations and aid organizations warned that a new offensive would have a devastating humanitarian impact amid extensive destruction and the collapse of essential services. More than 90 percent of homes were estimated to be damaged or destroyed, while only 18 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were partly operating. Eleven of the functioning facilities were in Gaza City and its surroundings, with another in the separate North Gaza administrative district. Conditions of famine had been confirmed in and around Gaza City two days earlier.
Mediators Qatar and Egypt were trying to avert the offensive through a proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of about half of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas said it had accepted that plan. Israeli officials said they would no longer agree to a partial arrangement and instead demanded the release of all hostages. Twenty of the 50 captives were believed to remain alive. Israel's defense minister warned that Gaza City would be razed unless Hamas disarmed and freed every hostage.
The Israeli operation in Gaza began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Gaza health authorities put the Palestinian death toll since then at 62,686, with 157,951 injured. Those figures and the latest daily toll came from the Hamas-run ministry.
As strikes continued, the combined prospect of forced movement, reduced hospital capacity and famine made the planned assault a humanitarian as well as military turning point. The negotiations offered a possible route away from escalation, but the parties remained divided over whether any deal should release some or all hostages and on the terms for ending the war.
