Israel targets Gaza city warehouses and health centres as UN condemns 'systematic' demolition

Artillery shelling reported in areas across the city

Displaced Palestinians flee south as smoke rises from an Israeli strike in central Gaza on Wednesday. Reuters

At least 20 people were killed in Gaza city on Wednesday when Israeli forces bombed warehouses sheltering displaced Palestinians, with artillery shelling and drone flights reported across swathes of the city.

Israel is pushing deeper into the area in a bid to seize the enclave's largest urban centre, which it says functions as a command and control hub for Hamas.

The offensive has sparked international outcry over fears it will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been devastated by almost two years of war.

On Tuesday, a UN commission said Israel has shown a clear intent to establish permanent control over Gaza through demolition of civilian infrastructure since the war began.

"The destruction of civilian objects for expansion of territorial control has been part of a widespread and systematic attack by Israel directed against the civilian population in Gaza," the UN report said.

It said Israel was in control of 75 per cent of the territory as of July.

Official Palestinian media reported that at least 33 people were killed by Israeli shelling and gunfire across Gaza on Wednesday morning, including 28 in Gaza city.

The Wafa news agency cited medical sources as saying 20 died in the warehouse bombing near the city's Firas Market.

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In the city's south, five more people were killed and others injured when a house was targeted in the Sabra neighbourhood. Four others died in the bombing of a house at the Nuseirat displacement camp in central Gaza.

Drones were flying over Gaza city, Wafa said, while artillery shelling was reported in eastern, southern and north-western areas of the city.

Israel says its war in Gaza does not target ordinary Palestinians but aims to eradicate Hamas, whose fighters triggered the conflict in October 2023 with their attack on southern Israel.

It dismissed Tuesday's UN report, saying it “has everything backwards”.

“Hamas has genocidal intent towards Israel … This commission does not miss an opportunity to reveal its true character and politically-driven agenda,” Israel said.

The UN's Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Israeli forces have “intentionally altered the geography of Gaza” through the creation of military corridors, expanding a border buffer zone between Israel and Gaza and establishing security zones.

In the occupied West Bank, the UN report found Israel had shown clear intent to ensure a Jewish majority by forcibly transferring Palestinians and expanding Jewish settlements with the goal of annexing the territory.

“Increasing violent attacks by settlers have resulted in the forcible displacement of communities and subsequent Judaisation of areas of the West Bank,” it said.

The report highlighted military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, which resulted in the destruction of homes and infrastructure and the displacement of residents. The commission said these operations were unjustified militarily and constituted collective punishment.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously said the operations reduced the threat from armed groups.

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Israel has remained defiant in the face of growing international criticism of its conduct in the Gaza war, particularly from European and Arab states.

On Tuesday, Arab leaders and other heads of state met with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to discuss the conflict.

Few details emerged from the meeting but Mr Trump reportedly presented a “comprehensive plan” for Gaza.

It was not immediately clear if the participants agreed on a road map for ending the war, but the Arab officials and Mr Trump said stopping the fighting was a shared priority.

“We’re going to work very hard on this. This is going to be my most important meeting,” Mr Trump said.

Washington has been discussing its Gaza plan with Qatar, Egypt and other Arab states. It would mean Hamas disarming, hostages held by the group being released and Gaza being governed by technocrats while large-scale postwar redevelopment is carried out.

For now, however, widespread destruction continues in the enclave. A Palestinian medical charity said on Tuesday that Israel destroyed its main health centre in Gaza city.

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society said an air strike reduced the six-storey building to rubble in the central Samer area. It said it had been an important facility in the city, providing blood donation and testing services, trauma care, cancer medicine and chronic disease treatment.

Israel has repeatedly bombed and raided hospitals in Gaza, accusing Hamas of using medical facilities for military purposes, but providing little evidence to support its claim.

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The head of the World Health Organisation condemned the strike on the Medical Relief Society building.

“Attacks on health facilities must end. The senseless violence must stop. Ceasefire!” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.

The medical charity said another of its centres was also damaged and surrounded by Israeli troops, while a third facility was destroyed in a separate strike.

Another medical NGO, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said on Tuesday that its oxygen station at Al Quds Hospital, south-west of Gaza city, had stopped operating after being shot at by Israeli forces.

It said on X that the hospital was now relying on pre-filled oxygen cylinders to supply patients, which will only last three days.

Israeli vehicles were stationed at the southern gate, preventing entry and exit, the group added.

“Hospitals must serve as safe havens for patients and are entitled to special protection under international humanitarian law,” the group said.

“We call on the international community to act immediately to protect medical teams and patients.”