CAIRO: Israeli forces bombarded Gaza City early on Monday and columns of tanks advanced into the heart of the city from different directions in what residents said was one of the heaviest attacks in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war.
The Gaza Civil Emergency Service said it believed dozens of people were killed but emergency teams were unable to reach them because of ongoing offensives in Daraj and Tuffah in the east and Tel Al Hawa, Sabra and Rimal further west.
Residents said neighbourhoods in Gaza City, which lies in the north of the Gaza Strip, had been bombed throughout the night into the early morning hours. Several multi-floor buildings have been destroyed, they added.
One Israeli tank thrust pushed people towards the western road near the Mediterranean, residents said. "The enemy is behind us and the sea is in front of us, where we will we go?" said Abdel-Ghani, one Gaza City resident, who did not give his full name. "Tank shells and missiles from the planes are falling on the roads and houses like hell from a volcano. People are running in all directions and no one knows where to go," Abdel-Ghani added.
The Israeli military said in a statement it was mounting an operation against infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, and that it had taken out of action more than 30 fighters. More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military offensive since then, according to Gaza health officials.
Gaza residents said tanks advanced from at least three directions on Monday and reached the heart of Gaza City, backed by heavy Israeli fire from the air and ground. That forced thousands of people out of their homes to look for safer shelter, which for many was impossible to find, and some slept on the roadside.
Medics at the Al Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City had to evacuate patients to the already crowded and under-equipped Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said. An Israeli strike in the eastern suburb of Shejaia killed four Palestinians, medics said.
Hopes among Gaza residents of a pause in the fighting had revived after Hamas accepted a key part of a US ceasefire proposal, prompting an official in the Israeli negotiating team to say there was a real chance of a deal. Hamas has dropped a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before it would sign an agreement. Instead, the group said it would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
