Israel struck a high-rise in Gaza City after an evacuation warning, with health officials reporting at least 27 killed as strikes intensified Saturday.
The military said it will launch "precise, targeted strikes" against militant infrastructure in the days ahead and accused Hamas militants of utilizing the city's high-rises for observation and prearranged ambushes.
As part of its preparation to expand its offensive, Israelhas started mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is repeatedly issuing evacuation advisories, which has drawn criticism from both local and international quarters.
The Mushtaha tower in Rimal, a wealthy neighborhood prior to the war, was the focus of Saturday's attack, according to Palestinians. Ahmed al-Boari, a resident of Gaza City, reported that those escaping Israeli raids in other parts of the city had taken refuge in and around the structure. There were many tents in the area, according to satellite photos.
Israel said that it hit the structure because Hamas used it for monitoring. The building's roof was already severely damaged from previous strikes, according to pre-strike photos.
The northern part of the territory, Gaza City, has been designated as a fighting zone by Israel. Ahead of the anticipated intense conflict, Palestinians have already been told to leave several areas of the city, which are currently designated as "red zones."
Residents, many of whom returned after leaving the city during the early phases of the conflict, which has already forced about 90% of the territory's inhabitants to flee, are uneasy about that.
The protesters accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of reaching a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the hostages home.
"The government of Israel is waging a war of attrition against us, against the citizens of Israel as a whole, and against the families of the hostages in particular,"
said Lishay Lavi-Miran,
the wife of hostage Omri Miran.
A propaganda movie featuring two hostages in Gaza City was issued by Hamas on Saturday. Alon Ohel, another hostage, is seen in the video with Guy Gilboa-Dalal in a car.
Speaking under pressure, Gilboa-Dalal begs for the battle to end and the captives to return. More than six months have passed since he was last seen in a video with another hostage, Evyatar David, while they observed the release of other hostages amid a ceasefire.
Hamas-led militants killed roughly 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their strike on southern Israel that sparked the war on October 7, 2023. Since then, the majority have been made available through ceasefires or other accords.
According to a joint statement by Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations, new US sanctions targeting Palestinian civil society will do "severe harm on key human rights organizations that have worked for decades to protect Palestinians."
Three Palestinian organizations, Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, were sanctioned by the Trump administration on Friday. They would find it more difficult to get donations from the US under the new regulations.
The US is pursuing the organizations because of their participation in the International Criminal Court's investigations, arrests, and prosecutions of Israelis, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“The US is effectively punishing the very act of addressing human rights violations and abuses,”
said Ammar Dwaik, head of
the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.
"This criminalises accountability and sets a dangerous precedent worldwide that governments can silence investigators.”
What evidence do Israeli officials cite that the high-rise housed Hamas infrastructure?
According to the Israeli military, the buildings contained multiple Hamas military units, including military intelligence offices, research and development units used for weapons development, and electronic command centers used for the planning and execution of attacks on Israel.
They purport that these units contained "subject matter experts," who were trained to operate valuable technological equipment and to operate the electronic jamming equipment being used against Israeli forces.
Before striking the targets, the Israeli military claimed that they warned tenants to evacuate, showing they were aware of the occupancy of the building and allowed civilians to vacate the building. Intelligence shared with international partners allegedly included classified material that connected Hamas operations to the buildings that were targeted; however, any evidence has not been made public in its entirety.