“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Tuesday. “We will not relent and we will not go back – until the completion of the mission.”
The Israeli military launched the mainstay of its ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, advancing slowly into the densely populated urban center, which has already suffered immense destruction due to airstrikes. Residents are being told to immediately evacuate to the south. Huge lines of vehicles packed with families’ belongings could be seen scrambling to get out of the war-ravaged city.
Gaza City residents told Al Jazeera they are subject to “heavy, relentless” bombardment – and least 68 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes across Gaza since dawn. Videos also showed huge explosions rocking the city on Tuesday, with large bombs concentrated Tal al-Hawa, a neighborhood in the south of Gaza City.
Currently, many Arab and Islamic leaders are gathered in the Qatari capital of Doha, where they condemned the new IDF military’s push deeper into Gaza City, decrying it as a “cowardly” attack and pronouncing it as “genocide”.
