Israel stepped up its bombardment of Gaza City on Saturday, striking multiple sites as the military urged civilians to evacuate ahead of an anticipated ground assault to capture the city.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli airstrikes hit the public prosecutor’s office and a radio and communications building in western Gaza, along with a series of strikes in the neighborhoods of Rimal, Tel al-Hawa and the Shati refugee camp. Health officials in Gaza said dozens were killed or wounded.
IDF airstrikes in Gaza City
Earlier in the day, the military said it struck the al-Nour tower on Safed Street after issuing evacuation warnings. The IDF said the building housed Hamas military infrastructure used to plan and execute attacks against its forces.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the army’s Arabic-language spokesman, appealed directly to Gaza residents to leave the city for central and southern parts of the territory. “We urge you to use al-Rashid Street and move immediately to the humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi, as well as to open areas in the central refugee camps,” he wrote on X.
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Color-coded evacuation map shared by IDF Arabic-language spokesman Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee showing active combat zones across
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Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City
(Photo: AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun, AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun)
Adraee shared a color-coded evacuation map, declaring the entirety of Gaza City a “red zone,” or active combat area. Blue-marked areas indicated open land where civilians could pass through, while green marked al-Mawasi, which he said offered a wider humanitarian response and better services, including medical care.
The army said it has been warning civilians through recorded messages, text alerts, phone calls and leaflet drops. Adraee claimed Saturday that more than 250,000 residents had already left Gaza City in recent days.
The military said that since the beginning of the week, three large waves of strikes have been carried out on Gaza City, hitting more than 500 targets. Initial waves focused on the Daraj Tufah and al-Furqan districts, with later attacks concentrated in Shati and additional areas in al-Furqan. According to the IDF, the strikes destroyed Hamas sniper and observation posts, tunnel shafts, weapons depots and other terrorist infrastructure.
Hamas, however, accused Israel of committing “a grave crime of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement” through the intensified bombing campaign.