TEL AVIV
\nThe Israeli military warned Palestinians in Gaza City to leave for the south on Saturday before bombing a high-rise tower as its forces advance deeper into the enclave\u2019s largest urban area.
\nIsraeli forces have been carrying out an offensive on the suburbs of the northern city for weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to capture it.
\nNetanyahu says Gaza City is a Hamas stronghold and capturing it is necessary to defeat the Palestinian Islamist militants, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war.
\nThe assault threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering there from nearly two years of fighting. Before the war, around a million people, nearly half of Gaza\u2019s population, lived in the city.
\nIsraeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X that residents should leave the city for a designated coastal area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, assuring those fleeing that they would be able to receive food, medical care and shelter there.
\nThe designated area was a \u201chumanitarian zone\u201d, Adraee said.
\nThe military also issued so-called \u201cevacuation warnings\u201d to civilians in certain areas of the city, warning it was about to carry out attacks.
\nThe military later bombed a high-rise Gaza City tower that it said was being used by Hamas, without providing evidence to support the assertion. It said civilians were warned in advance.
\nIsrael\u2019s Defence Minister Israel Katz shared a video on X of what appeared to be the multi-storey building collapsing after the strike, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air.
\nIt was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
\nThe Israeli military said Hamas used the building to gather intelligence and that explosive devices had been planted nearby. Hamas denied using the building for military purposes, and Palestinians said it had been used to shelter the displaced.
\n\u201cThese towers are strictly monitored, entry is permitted exclusively for civilians,\u201d Hamas said in a statement, adding the Israeli allegations constitute \u201ca systematic forced displacement\u201d plan.
\nGaza health authorities said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 40 people across the Gaza enclave on Saturday, at least half of them in Gaza City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEL AVIV The Israeli military warned Palestinians in Gaza City to leave for the south on Saturday before bombing a high-rise tower as its forces advance deeper into the enclave\u2019s largest urban area. Israeli forces have been carrying out an offensive on the suburbs of the northern city for weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-501544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n