Israeli tanks advance on Gaza city as pressure mounts on Palestinians to flee

Residents told mass displacement 'inevitable' as troops draw closer

Israel intensified pressure on Palestinians to leave Gaza city on Wednesday as troops advanced towards its centre.

The Israeli military said an "evacuation of Gaza city is inevitable" as it encouraged residents to flee south. It claimed there were "vast empty areas" in places such as Al Mawasi that already house many displaced Palestinians.

"Every family that relocates to the south will receive the most generous humanitarian aid, which is currently being worked on," said army spokesman Avichay Adraee. Israel is blamed by the UN for causing a famine in Gaza by denying entry to aid lorries.

Israeli troops "have begun efforts to bring in tents, prepare areas for establishing humanitarian aid distribution complexes, lay water pipelines and more", Mr Adraee said.

Gaza authorities said on Wednesday 10 more people had starved to death in the strip, including two children, raising the death toll of Israel's war to 62,895.

Palestinians rush to receive food portions from a charity kitchen in Khan Younis. AFP

Defying international outcry, Israel is pursuing plans to seize Gaza city and remove Hamas from power in the strip. Arab countries have repeatedly warned against attempts to empty Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants.

Residents of the city said tanks entered the Ebad-Alrahman neighbourhood and began shelling houses late on Tuesday. "If no truce is reached, we will see the tanks outside our homes," former construction worker Saad Abed, 60, told Reuters.

The Israeli army said troops were "engaged in combat" on the outskirts of the city. It said they found a weapons storage site where Hamas had planned attacks on Israeli soldiers.

Their operations on the fringes of Gaza city "enable the expansion of operations deeper into the area", the military said.

Israeli armoured vehicles positioned near the border with Gaza. AFP

Gaza officials also raised the death toll to 22 from an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital on Monday, after two more people died of their injuries. Five journalists were killed in the attack, which was widely condemned.

One of the dead was photographer Mariam Dagga, whose 13-year-old son Ghaith paid tribute by saying she was his "whole life". The teenager lives in the UAE having left Gaza in the early months of the war.

“There is nothing in this world that can ever replace Mama, her tenderness, her care, or her constant concern for me in every part of my life," he told The National.

Israel has shown no sign it will agree to a 60-day truce proposed by Egypt and Qatar in a last-ditch effort to stop the latest offensive. Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy who has been involved in ceasefire negotiations, said the US merely expects the Gaza war to be settled "before the end of this year".

He told Fox News the US was putting together a "very comprehensive plan" for post-war Gaza. The White House did not give details.

Israel is prolonging its war in Gaza despite huge international pressure to end the strip's suffering. AFP

Samir Hulileh, a Palestinian businessman who has been approached as a possible interim governor of Gaza, criticised what he said were Israeli efforts to frighten Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, after troops raided a currency exchange on Tuesday.

“Of course, a money changer could be doing something wrong, but to tackle the problem properly you don’t destabilise the market. You don’t raid violently, injuring and killing people,” he said.

Dozens were injured in the raid in Ramallah. In another Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, troops lay siege to the area for nine hours, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon, meanwhile, told The National that sustained military pressure was the only way to ensure Hamas is excluded from any future role in Gaza.

“I saw the statements of many leaders speaking about the future of Gaza and they say that Hamas will not be part of that,” Mr Danon said. “We will deliver that.”

Questioning alternative approaches, he added: “Who is going to convince Hamas to disarm? I think the pressure we are putting now is the only way to make sure that Hamas will not be part of the game.”