Israel strikes Gaza City high-rise building as offensive ramps up

Israel struck a high-rise building on Friday as the army ramped up an offensive in preparations to take over Gaza City.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strike on the building was just the beginning, warning “when the door opens it will not close” and the army’s activity will increase.

His comments come days after Israel began mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive in Gaza City and other Hamas strongholds, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad.

Strikes elsewhere in Gaza City killed at least 27 people, health officials said.

Palestinians said Israel’s strike on Friday targeted the Mushtaha tower in Gaza City, located in the southern area of the once-upscale Rimal neighbourhood.

The tower already had come under Israeli attacks and photos of the building taken before the strike showed its roof was heavily damaged.

Israel said it struck the building because it was used for Hamas surveillance.

Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.

That has left residents on edge, including many who returned after fleeing the city in the initial stages of the Israel-Hamas war.

While this was not the first strike on Mushtaha tower, it was the first time the building was targeted since Israel announced its operation to take Gaza City several weeks ago.

Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said the building and the surrounding areas were recently inundated with displaced families who have come since Israel began operating on the outskirts of the city.

The army did not allow people time to evacuate the building ahead of the strike, he said. It was unclear how many people were killed in the strike.

The city’s Shifa Hospital said 27 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight into Friday, including six members of a single family.

The Israeli military says it targets only militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

Israel’s new offensive also has sparked widespread protests among members of the Israeli public who fear it will endanger hostages still held in Gaza, some of who are believed to be in Gaza City. There are 48 hostages still held in Gaza, 20 of who are believed to be alive.

The protesters accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to satisfy his far-right governing partners instead of reaching a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the hostages home.

“The government of Israel is waging a war of attrition against us, against the citizens of Israel as a whole, and against the families of the hostages in particular,” said Lishay Lavi-Miran, the wife of hostage Omri Miran.

Hamas released a propaganda video on Friday of two hostages in Gaza City. A video shows Guy Gilboa-Dalal in a car, at one point joined by another hostage, Alon Ohel.

Mr Gilboa-Dalal speaks, likely under duress, pleading for the war to end and to return to their families. Mr Gilboa-Dalal was last seen in a video more than six months ago with another hostage, Evyatar David, as they watched other hostages being released during a ceasefire.

As concern for the hostages persists, Israel has continued its offensive across Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said the bodies of 69 people were brought to hospitals in the enclave over the past 24 hours.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.

Israel’s retaliatory attack has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians in the nearly two-year war.

Israel says the war will continue until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and that it will retain open-ended security control of the territory of some two million Palestinians.

Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups protested against new US sanctions aimed at Palestinian civil society, saying in a joint statement that they would inflict “severe harm on key human rights organisations that have worked for decades to protect Palestinians”.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions on three Palestinian groups — Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The new measures would make it harder for them to receive donations from the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was targeting the groups over their involvement with the International Criminal Court’s efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute Israelis.

Last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister, alleging crimes against humanity in Gaza. The US and Israel have rejected the allegations and the US has sanctioned a number of ICC judges and prosecutors.

“The US is effectively punishing the very act of addressing human rights violations and abuses,” said Ammar Dwaik, head of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights.

“This criminalises accountability and sets a dangerous precedent worldwide that governments can silence investigators.”