GAZA: Israeli tanks advanced further into Gaza City on Monday, detonating explosive-laden vehicles in one suburb as airstrikes struck residential areas, killing at least 19 people, according to Palestinian officials and witnesses.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars announced it had passed a resolution declaring Israel’s Gaza campaign meets the legal definition of genocide. Israel, which has consistently rejected such accusations, did not immediately respond.
Residents reported that Israeli forces sent old armoured vehicles into the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and then remotely detonated them, destroying homes and forcing families to flee. Leaflets dropped over the city urged civilians to move south, warning of expanded operations. “Explosions never stopped. Drones hovered all night. People are confused—stay and die, or leave towards nowhere,” said Mohammad Abu Abdallah, 55.
The Gaza health ministry said 98 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours. It also reported nine deaths, including three children, from malnutrition and starvation, raising the total number of such fatalities to at least 348. Israel disputes the figures, attributing deaths to other medical causes.
The latest strikes follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet meeting on a planned offensive to seize full control of Gaza City, described by the military as Hamas’s stronghold. Officials have warned the assault could endanger the 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
Israel’s campaign, launched after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, has so far left more than 63,000 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Nearly two years into the war, ceasefire efforts remain stalled after talks collapsed in July.
Protests in Israel demanding the release of hostages and an end to the war have intensified, even as military operations expand inside Gaza.
