Israel storms Gaza City neighborhood, surprises Palestinians and orders them to go south
A Palestinian man carries a child while walking near rubble, following an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israeli war on Gaza, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 27. – Photo by Reuters

Israel storms Gaza City neighborhood, surprises Palestinians and orders them to go south

Posted: Friday 06.28.2024 3:09 pm Palestine, World

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On Thursday, the Israeli army stormed a neighborhood in Gaza City, ordering Palestinians to move south as the tanks rolled in and bombing the southern city of Rafah in what it says are the final stages of an operation against Hamas fighters there.
Residents of the Shejaia neighborhood in Gaza City said they were taken by surprise by the sound of tanks approaching and firing in the early afternoon, with drones also attacking after overnight bombing of the city, which Israel had combed early in the war.
“It sounded as if the war is restarting, a series of bombings that destroyed several houses in our area and shook the buildings,” Mohammad Jamal, 25, a resident of Gaza City, told Reuters via a chat app.
Later on Thursday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said the Israeli military strikes had killed at least seven people in Shejaia so far. More casualties are feared to be under the rubble where rescue teams cannot reach, it said.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed women, men and children carrying bags and food as they ran in the streets after the raid began. Some men carried injured children, some bleeding, in their arms as they fled.
“This is the (Israeli) occupation targeting us, as you can see,” said a man carrying a bleeding boy in his arms. “You can see the children, the targeting of children here.”
An Israeli military spokesperson said they had no comment on reports of casualties in Shejaia.
Palestinians flee their homes following an Israeli military operation in Shejaiya, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, June 27, 2024. – Photo by Reuters

Palestinians flee their homes following an Israeli military operation in Shejaia, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, June 27. – Photo by Reuters

The armed wing of Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it had detonated a pre-planted explosive device against an Israeli tank east of the district.
Israel accuses the Palestinian fighters of hiding among civilians and says it warns displaced people to get out of the way of its operations against the fighters.
“For your safety, you must evacuate immediately south on Salah al-Din Street to the humanitarian zone,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X in a call to residents and displaced people in Shejaia.
Residents and Hamas media said the tanks had moved in before the post and that people from the eastern suburb were running westward under fire as Israel had blocked the road south.
More than eight months into Israel’s war on Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led cross border attack on Oct. 7, aid officials say the enclave remains at high risk of famine, with almost half a million people facing “catastrophic” food insecurity.
“We are being starved in Gaza City, and are being hunted by tanks and planes with no hope that this war is ever ending,” Jamal said.

Meanwhile, international mediation backed by the U.S. has failed to yield a ceasefire agreement although talks are continuing amid intense Western pressure for Gaza to receive more aid.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who was visiting Washington, D.C. said on Wednesday that he had discussed his proposals for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners and the U.S., but that it would be “a long and complex process.”
Senior U.S. officials told Gallant that the U.S. would maintain a pause on a shipment of heavy munitions for Israel while the issue is under review. The shipment was paused in early May over concerns the weapons could cause more Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
Hamas's political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh

Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh

Hamas says any deal must bring an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Tuesday that the death of his sister and her family members in an Israeli attack in Gaza will not change his positions and the positions of Hamas.

If Israel thinks it will, Haniyeh said, then it is delusional.

“I say again and again that the shaheeds of my family are the shaheeds of our people and the shaheeds of our people are also the shaheeds of my family, since there is no difference between the shaheeds and Allah has taken them all into his arms to pave the way towards victory and freedom,” he said, stressing that that the blood of the shaheeds demands that Hamas continue on its path with full determination.

On the efforts to end the war, Haniyeh said that Hamas presented a position based on maximum flexibility on the condition that this would lead to an end to the “crimes”, an end to the aggression and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, he stated, still adheres to its position that any agreement that does not include a ceasefire and an end to “aggression” is an invalid agreement.

Haniyeh also said that all ideas regarding the “day after” the war and the reorganization of the “Palestinian State” must be Palestinian in their essence, and no one, neither Israel nor any other party, has the right to interfere in them.
— Reuters and other news wire agencies contributed to this report. Edited for style.

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