Israel presses on with Gaza City assault, a minimum of 60 Palestinians killed

Israel’s navy stored up its assault on Gaza City and the broader Gaza Strip on Saturday (September 20, 2025), dismantling underground shafts and booby-trapped constructions in assaults that killed a minimum of 60 Palestinians, in accordance with Gazan well being authorities.

The assault got here as 10 nations, together with Australia, Belgium, Britain and Canada, are scheduled to formally recognise an unbiased Palestinian state on Monday (September 22), forward of the annual leaders’ gathering on the U.N. General Assembly subsequent week.

Israel’s intensified navy demolition marketing campaign focusing on high-rise buildings in Gaza City started this week alongside a floor assault.

Its forces, which management Gaza City’s jap suburbs, have been pounding the Sheikh Radwan and Tel Al-Hawa areas from the place they’d be positioned to advance on central and western elements of town.

Most of Gaza City’s inhabitants is sheltering in these elements.

The navy estimates it has demolished as much as 20 Gaza City tower blocks over the previous two weeks. It additionally believes, in accordance with Israeli media, that greater than 500,000 individuals have left town for the reason that begin of September.

The militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, disputes this, saying just below 300,000 have left and round 900,000 stay, together with Israeli hostages.

On messaging website Telegram, Hamas’ navy wing earlier launched a montage-type picture of Israeli hostages, warning that their lives have been in danger as a consequence of Israel’s navy operation in Gaza City.

Hamas additionally estimates that since August 11, Israel’s navy has destroyed or broken greater than 1,800 residential buildings in Gaza City, and destroyed greater than 13,000 tents housing displaced households.

In nearly two years of preventing, Israel’s offensive has killed greater than 65,000 Palestinians, in accordance with Gazan well being authorities, unfold famine, demolished most constructions and displaced a lot of the inhabitants, in lots of circumstances a number of occasions.

Israel says the starvation disaster in Gaza has been exaggerated and that a lot of the blame lies with Hamas.

COGAT, the arm of the Israeli navy that oversees support flows into the enclave, mentioned earlier that Hamas fired at U.N. groups on Saturday and prevented the opening of a brand new humanitarian route within the southern Gaza Strip.

Hamas categorically rejected the claims, saying felony gangs granted safety by Israeli firepower and air cowl are attacking support vans, looting and stealing. The U.N. was not instantly out there to remark.

“We have been calling day and night (for) U.N. organizations to carry out their humanitarian and relief work,” a senior Hamas media official informed Reuters.

The struggle started after Hamas led assaults in Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 individuals and taking 251 hostages. A complete of 48 of the hostages stay in Gaza, and round 20 are regarded as alive.