France and four smaller countries have joined the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal in recognizing a Palestinian state, but the declarations have had no tangible impact on the ground. In Gaza City, the IDF is intensifying its offensive under Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, aimed at seizing the city.
On Tuesday afternoon, Palestinian outlets circulated footage of an Israeli tank on al-Shifa Street in the upscale Rimal neighborhood in western Gaza, an area with several high-rise buildings, many of which had already been struck in preparation for the operation.
IDF tanks in Gaza City
IDF evacuation leaflets in Gaza City
Reuters also reported a “significant push” by Israeli tanks toward western Gaza City. According to local residents quoted by the agency, Israeli forces detonated vehicles loaded with explosives in the Sabra and Tel al-Hawa neighborhoods, destroying dozens of homes and damaging roads. Palestinian media likewise claimed that booby-trapped armored vehicles exploded in residential areas of Sabra.
“Are we now being killed as citizens of the State of Palestine? Is that what’s happening?” asked Abu Mustafa, a Gaza resident, hours after joining thousands of others fleeing the city amid the battles and airstrikes. Earlier in the day, the IDF dropped evacuation leaflets across central Gaza City. Footage showed residents racing through the streets to collect them.
The IDF said its operation in Gaza City expanded in the past 24 hours with additional units from the 36th Division entering the city. The army described its objective as encircling and dismantling Hamas’s Gaza Brigade.
Ahead of their entry, the IDF launched strikes that included shelling terror targets, hitting Hamas buildings and infrastructure, killing terrorists and conducting raids to clear the area.
The fighting has come at a steep cost, as with previous ground operations in the nearly two-year war. On Tuesday, the IDF announced that Maj. Shahar Netanel Bozaglo, 27, of Migdal HaEmek, a company commander in the 7th Armored Brigade's 77th Battalion, was killed the previous day when an anti-tank missile struck his tank in southern Gaza City.
He is the first IDF soldier killed in the current phase of Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, whose ground stage began a week ago. Bozaglo had been operating under the Golani Brigade in southern Gaza City as other forces advanced.
Terrorists lying in ambush fired the missile that fatally wounded him. He later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Since the war began, 911 Israeli soldiers have been killed, 465 of them since the Gaza ground offensive started.