Israeli airstrikes and gunfire have resulted in at least 18 fatalities in and around Gaza City, according to local health officials, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet prepared on Sunday to discuss plans to take control of the city.
Residents of Sheikh Radwan, one of Gaza City’s largest neighborhoods, reported sustained tank shelling and airstrikes throughout Saturday, overnight, and into Sunday morning, forcing many families to evacuate.
Local officials stated that the casualties from Israeli tank fire and gunfire included 13 individuals near a food distribution point in the central Gaza Strip and at least two in a Gaza City residence. An Israeli military spokesperson said the report was under review.
In Barcelona, a humanitarian flotilla with activists, including Greta Thunberg, prepared to depart for Gaza on Sunday, two days after Israel ended a temporary pause in hostilities that had permitted limited aid deliveries.
The military described Gaza City as a “dangerous combat zone,” explaining its decision to continue operations.
Rezik Salah, a Sheikh Radwan resident and father of two, told Reuters that Israeli forces were advancing into the city “from the east, north, and south, while bombing from the air and ground to intimidate people into leaving.”
In Jerusalem, officials said Netanyahu’s security cabinet would meet Sunday evening to discuss the next phases of the planned military operation, though a full-scale assault is not expected for weeks.
Israel has stated its intention to evacuate civilians before deploying more ground forces. Mirjana Spoljaric of the Red Cross warned this would trigger mass displacement that the rest of Gaza would struggle to accommodate.
Local estimates suggest about half of Gaza’s over 2 million residents are sheltering in Gaza City, though thousands are believed to have fled or be attempting to reach safer areas in central and southern Gaza.
In Tel Aviv, large protests against the war took place on Saturday night, while families of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza demonstrated outside Israeli ministers’ homes on Sunday morning.
Separately on Sunday, Hamas confirmed the death of Mohammed Sinwar, its presumed leader in Gaza, more than three months after Israel said his body had been found in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
The conflict began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with 251 taken hostage. Forty-seven hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Israel’s military response has killed at least 63,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures deemed reliable by the UN, and has left much of the area in ruins.
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