Israeli troops push into Gaza City, forcing Palestinians to flee their assault
The Israeli assault has already reduced much of the enclave to rubble and killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians, according to health officials.
But thousands are staying put, unsure where to find safety after being displaced multiple times during the conflict, which began with the Hamas-led terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
“Better to die here, weeping in Gaza, than to wander in exile,” said Ahmed Helles, 54, a father of eight, sitting beside the ruins of his home.
He added, “Why should I leave? Gaza is unlivable now. That is exactly what the occupation wants — to erase this city, to topple its towers and homes, to empty it of people. I will not give them that victory.”
Nearby, Ibrahim Salamat, 48, a father of six, explained why he has stayed. “I have no money to leave. I move from street to street, escaping the shelling on foot, carrying my children to slightly safer corners. Yet I am still in Gaza. I don’t know if I will ever make it to the south.”
A coalition of aid groups urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop the offensive Wednesday, a day after an independent United Nations commission concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza — an accusation the U.S. ally dismissed as “distorted and false.”
“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the U.N. Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the aid groups’ statement. “States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”
The statement was signed by leaders of more than 20 aid organizations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children.
Gaza City’s Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital was bombed three consecutive times on Tuesday, said Dr. Muneer al-Boursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health, with each strike occurring within minutes of the last.
An 11-year-old Palestinian girl, Marah Haddad, was rescued by civil defense teams after being trapped for nearly 10 hours under rubble following an Israeli strike on a residential area in Sheva Square. She was transferred to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City for treatment.
The offensive has also raised concerns over the safety of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
“I cannot breathe watching the fighting inside Gaza City,” said Noa Argamani, the freed Israeli hostage kidnapped from a music festival during the Oct. 7 attack and held in Gaza in Jun. 2024.
“I pray this operation ends swiftly, and that every soldier and every hostage comes back home safe and sound,” she posted on X.
