JERUSALEM — The Israeli military launched a long-threatened ground assault to take over Gaza City after a night of intense bombing, sending many residents fleeing Tuesday from the devastated but still densely populated urban area that is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
The ground operation and the intensifying bombardment deepened the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which has been shattered by a nearly two-year war that has killed tens of thousands of people and caused rampant hunger. Palestinians in Gaza City described scenes of panic as Israel pounded the area with heavy airstrikes that shook the ground. Local health officials said that more than 20 people had been killed and dozens more wounded.
“We are all terrified,” said Montaser Bahja, a former schoolteacher sheltering in an apartment in western Gaza City near the coast. “Death would be more merciful than what we’re living through.”
Israel said the ground operation, which had been building up for weeks, was necessary to free the remaining hostages seized in the Hamas-led 2023 raid that started the war and to prevent the militants from regrouping and planning future attacks.
It announced the operation on the same day that a United Nations commission investigating the war said that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians. Israel has vehemently denied the accusation, saying that the target of its military campaign is Hamas, not the Palestinian people.
But its latest ground operation fueled more international criticism of its conduct in the war
After stepping up airstrikes in recent days, the Israeli military said Tuesday that soldiers from three divisions of active duty and reserve troops had begun “expanded ground operations” in Gaza City.
In the coming days, additional troops are expected to gradually advance into the city, an Israeli military official said at a briefing with reporters Tuesday, asserting that at least 2,000 Hamas militants remained there.
An Israeli military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the operation would “last as long as necessary” to free the hostages and defeat Hamas, estimating that it would take “a number of months.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the attack was an attempt to decisively rout Hamas in one of its last strongholds, but many Israelis are skeptical. Israel has repeatedly conducted major offensives in parts of Gaza without forcing Hamas to surrender or lay down its weapons.
Netanyahu said in a video statement Tuesday evening that Israeli forces were operating in Gaza City to defeat Hamas and to hasten the departure of the remaining residents.
“We are making efforts at the moment to open additional routes to facilitate a quicker evacuation of the Gaza population and to separate them from those terrorists we want to attack,” he said.
The Israeli military said 350,000 Gaza City residents had heeded previous evacuation orders. But roughly half a million people are believed to still be sheltering in the city, parts of which have been leveled by airstrikes. The Israeli military warned those remaining on Tuesday to leave immediately.
Many did, walking along dusty roads next to trucks loaded with mattresses and tents. But others said they simply could not afford to flee.
“I don’t have anywhere to go in southern Gaza — no house, no tent, no car in which to travel,” said Bahja, the former schoolteacher. “They’re not fighting Hamas. They’re fighting all of us civilians.”
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