Israeli forces struck another high‑rise in Gaza City on Saturday, toppling a building the military said housed Hamas military infrastructure, as thousands more Palestinians fled the urban area after leaflets ordered residents to evacuate for their safety.
The Israeli Defense Forces said the strike came after it warned civilians by dropping flyers across Gaza City that read in part, “For your safety, evacuate immediately. …You have been warned.” Defence Minister Israel Katz posted video footage on X showing the building collapsing within seconds and wrote that the operation was part of intense action to “dismantle and defeat Hamas.”
The Israeli military said the targeted tower was being used by Hamas to attack its troops as Israel prepares for a planned mid‑September operation to seize control of Gaza’s largest city. Saturday’s strike was at least the sixth high‑rise in Gaza City the military has destroyed in recent days after identifying suspected Hamas operations inside residential towers.
The United Nations has warned of a deepening humanitarian emergency, saying there is effectively nowhere safe for the roughly 1 million Palestinians who live in Gaza City. U.N. agencies estimate about 100,000 people have fled the city in the past month as the intensity of airstrikes increased.
Israeli officials have signaled the planned takeover of Gaza City could be protracted and costly. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported Friday that security chiefs warned ministers the operation could take months and would “inevitably” put hostages at risk. Families of Israeli hostages have publicly criticized government actions and demanded meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the handling of hostage negotiations and military strategy.
A statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in part that recent government decisions had “put our loved ones in danger of death and disappearance, and endangering the lives of the soldiers without a goal or purpose.” Israeli authorities say 48 people remain held by Hamas, 26 of whom have been declared dead, and officials expressed “grave concern” about the welfare of two other hostages.
Humanitarian groups have repeatedly cautioned that large‑scale urban warfare and continued strikes on densely populated areas will worsen civilian suffering. Shelter, water, medical care and safe corridors for civilians are limited, and aid agencies say mass displacement within the enclave strains already scarce resources.
The military has maintained that Hamas has embedded military assets in civilian structures, a claim the group denies or does not comment on publicly. International concern has centered on the protection of civilians and the feasibility of conducting major ground operations in densely populated urban terrain while avoiding large numbers of noncombatant casualties.
Diplomatic and public scrutiny inside Israel has intensified as the government balances military objectives against the risks to hostages and soldiers and the mounting humanitarian toll in Gaza. As evacuations continued over the weekend, the situation on the ground remained fluid, with both the humanitarian outlook and the timing of any major ground assault subject to further developments.