• Army launched ‘intensive operation in Gaza City,’ Prime Minister Netanyahu says

• Defense minister boasts about intensifying Israeli military campaign in Gaza amid heavy strikes

ISTANBUL

The Israeli military on Tuesday threatened Gaza City residents with more intense strikes as part of its plan to occupy the city and forcibly displace them.

“The Israeli army has begun destroying Hamas infrastructure in Gaza City,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on the US social media company X, directly threatening Gazans with heavy strikes to force them to flee the city.

“Gaza City is a dangerous combat zone. Remaining in the area puts you in danger,” he added, urging residents to evacuate south via Al-Rashid Street “as quickly as possible, by vehicle or on foot,” toward designated areas in southern Gaza.

He claimed that more than 40% of the city’s population had already relocated.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Tel Aviv court that the Israeli military has launched an “intensive operation in Gaza City,” public broadcaster KAN reported.

“We have begun an intensive operation in Gaza City,” Netanyahu said in the courtroom as he appeared again in the Tel Aviv District Court Tuesday morning to respond to corruption charges against him.

He faces accusations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust across three separate corruption cases.

The announcement coincided with a violent Israeli assault on Gaza, where Palestinians endured a night of heavy air and artillery strikes.

Local sources reported 35 people were killed, and others were injured or remain missing, amid explosions from explosive drones targeting homes and residential buildings northwest of the city.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz boasted Tuesday morning about the intensifying Israeli military campaign in Gaza, saying, “Gaza is burning. The Israeli army strikes the terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist and fights to create conditions for the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent or retreat until the mission is complete,” according to a post on his X account.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported Tuesday that the military dropped leaflets over Gaza, warning residents to evacuate.

In recent weeks, the Israeli military has increasingly targeted towers and residential buildings in Gaza, a policy Palestinian officials say is intended to force civilians to flee northwestern areas of the city to the southern Gaza Strip.

The escalation follows the Israeli government’s approval of a plan on Aug. 8, proposed by Netanyahu, to gradually reoccupy Gaza, beginning with Gaza City.

Israel’s ongoing war in 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 in the territory.