Israeli forces intensified bombardments on Gaza City and its outskirts overnight, hours after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant signed off on a plan to seize the city and mobilize tens of thousands of additional reservists.
The move, announced late Wednesday, authorizes the call-up of around 60,000 troops, in what Israeli officials say is a decisive phase to dismantle remaining Hamas strongholds.
The escalation has fueled mounting concerns of an even deeper humanitarian disaster in the besieged enclave.
“We have already begun preliminary operations, with IDF forces tightening their hold on Gaza City’s perimeter,” the army said in a statement Thursday.
Residents reported a night of heavy bombardments across multiple districts.
“The house shakes all night, the sky lights up from the blasts, and the sounds of warplanes and ambulances never stop,” said Ahmad al-Shanti, a displaced resident.
“It feels like the fighting is at our doorstep. But there is nowhere to go.”
Another resident, Amal Abdel-Aal, described relentless shelling near neighborhoods where thousands of displaced families had already sought shelter.
No one has slept for nights,” she said. “The bombing is constant, east, north, everywhere.”
The Gaza civil defense agency reported artillery and airstrikes in the northwest and southeast, while Israeli officials outlined a series of recent maneuvers that they say have “paved the way” for the next stage of the campaign.
The intensification comes as mediators await Israel’s formal response to a ceasefire proposal accepted earlier this week by Hamas.
The plan, backed by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, calls for the release of 10 hostages and 18 bodies from Gaza in an initial phase, followed by negotiations for a broader truce and further exchanges.
Qatar said the draft was nearly identical to one Israel previously agreed to, while Cairo noted that “the ball is now in Israel’s court.”
Hamas denounced Israel’s decision to press ahead with a Gaza City offensive, calling it proof of “disregard for international mediation and the lives of nearly one million displaced people sheltering in the city.”
The war, now in its twenty-third month, was triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 assault on southern Israel, which killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures. Hamas also seized 251 hostages, 49 of whom remain in Gaza, including 27 confirmed dead by Israel.
Israel’s campaign has since killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are widely cited by the United Nations.
The tolls cannot be independently verified due to media restrictions and limited access on the ground.
