Israeli army bombs 2 high-rise buildings in Gaza City amid occupation push

GAZA CITY, Palestine/ANKARA

The Israeli military bombed and destroyed two residential towers in Gaza City on Sunday, in the latest attacks targeting high-rise buildings as the army expanded its offensive to occupy the city.

Witnesses said fighter jets struck the Al-Kawthar residential tower in western Gaza City shortly after the army issued immediate evacuation orders for its residents and nearby tents.

Israeli warplanes also destroyed the Unknown Soldier Tower in the city’s al-Rimal neighborhood shortly after ordering residents to evacuate, even though the area was crowded with tents and residential buildings sheltering hundreds of displaced people.

Residents rushed out of the high-rise tower without belongings or clothes, fearing imminent strikes, witnesses said.

The Unknown Soldier Tower, one of Gaza City’s largest residential high-rises, housed dozens of apartments, shops, and hundreds of families and displaced people during the war. It was located in one of the most active commercial districts of al-Rimal.

The Israeli army has been targeting high-rise buildings across Gaza City as part of its ongoing offensive to occupy Gaza City, ordering residents to move southward to a so-called “safe humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, which repeatedly came under Israeli fire more than 100 times, killing hundreds of civilians.

According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the Israeli army has completely destroyed 1,600 towers and residential buildings in Gaza City since Aug. 11, in addition to 13,000 tents, displacing more than 100,000.

The vast majority of Gaza City residents are now crowded into the western neighborhoods of the city, which have witnessed concentrated and intense Israeli bombing since Friday.

Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023, and devastated the enclave, which faces famine.

Israel is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on the territory.