Israel has launched its attack on Gaza City, targeting Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in the city center and vowing to “intensify” the offensive until the terror group releases all hostages and disarms, according to Israeli defense minister Israel Katz.
“Now the bolt is being lifted from the Gates of Hell in Gaza,” Katz announced in an X post Friday morning, according to a translation by Amit Segal, a journalist for Israel’s Channel 12. “An initial evacuation notice has been delivered to a multi-story terrorist building in Gaza City ahead of an attack.”
“Once the door opens, it will not close,” Katz’s post goes on, “and IDF operations will continue to intensify—until Hamas murderers and rapists meet Israel’s conditions for ending the war, foremost among them the release of all hostages and the disarmament of their forces—or be destroyed.”
The Israel Defense Forces in an X post Friday confirmed the offensive into the city center, saying, “In the coming days, the IDF will carry out precise strikes against Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza City.” The Israel military announced on Thursday that it already had taken control of 40 percent of the city’s territory.
“Without making a formal declaration, the IDF already moved into Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, as well as parts of Jabaliya,” Segal reported.
The most recent offensive comes as Israeli intelligence has uncovered “significant Hamas terrorist activity,” including command centers, sniper and anti-tank firing positions, and underground tunnels, in Gaza City’s civilian buildings, according to the IDF’s post.
“Hamas exploits civilian infrastructure in Gaza, endangering the civilian population in Gaza,” the IDF added. “Numerous measures will be taken to minimize the risk of harming civilians as much as possible.”
Hamas has a long record of using Gazan civilians as human shields. The terror group has blocked Gaza City’s civilian population from evacuating in order to “exploit” the Israeli military’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties, Segal reported last month. The terrorists have also built tunnels and command centers beneath the European Gaza Hospital, Al-Shifa Hospital, U.N. Relief and Works Agency schools, and the U.N. offices in Gaza City—knowingly putting civilian lives in danger.
President Donald Trump last month signaled his backing for Israel’s offensive into Gaza City, Hamas’s last stronghold, saying that the terror group “can’t stay” in Gaza and that “we will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!”
Israel has vowed to bring home all remaining hostages and disarm Hamas. Israeli intelligence estimates that around 20 hostages are still alive in Gaza, alongside the bodies of up to 28 others killed in captivity.
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