Israel unleashed its long-threatened ground offensive in Gaza City , sending tanks and remote-controlled armoured cars packed with explosives into its streets, in defiance of international condemnation and the findings of a UN commission that it was committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, according to media reports.“Gaza is burning.

The IDF (Israeli Defence forces) striking terror infrastructure with an iron fist,” Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, wrote on X as the attack was launched in the early hours of the morning, adding: “We will not relent until the mission is completed.” More than 100 Palestinians were killed in the renewed Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told reporters in Gaza.

The sources said that at least 86 bodies were transferred to hospitals in Gaza City alone amid intensified Israeli bombardment. According to the sources, nine more people were killed in Israeli strikes in central Gaza, and six others in the south.Nearly one million Palestinians, most of them displaced from other parts of the enclave, remain trapped in the city under relentless attacks.

The Israeli army has killed almost 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023.Meanwhile, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the goals of the offensive were “defeating the enemy and evacuating the population”, omitting any mention of the freeing of the remaining Israeli hostages, which was been a constantly stated war aim until now.

Hostage families and their supporters protested near Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence on Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning their loved ones. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said it was clear that Israel had no interest in a peaceful outcome.“Israel is determined to go up to the end and [is] not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire, with dramatic consequences from Israel’s point of view,” Guterres said.

Officials from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said two divisions were involved in the ground advance towards the centre of Gaza City, with one division surrounding it. They estimated that the invading force would be met by up to 3,000 Hamas and allied fighters, and said the Israeli forces would advance cautiously.“It’s a gradual thing. It is not a black or white thing.

But yesterday was a big step forward … in operations on the ground,” one IDF official said. “This phase is defined by a coordinated and gradual manoeuvre combining precise intelligence, air and ground forces targeting Hamas’s central stronghold and aimed at dismantling its grip in this area.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)