JERUSALEM — After a night of heavy airstrikes, the Israeli military announced Tuesday that its expanded operation in Gaza City "to destroy Hamas' military infrastructure" has begun and warned residents to move south.
The announcement by Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee followed Defense Minister Israel Kataz's statement that "Gaza is burning" and further escalated the Israel-Hamas war as any potential ceasefire feels even further out of reach despite weeks of diplomacy.
Also Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel and arrived in the energy-rich nation of Qatar, where he planned to meet with its ruling emir as the nation is still incensed over Israel's strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.
While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday, they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel's conduct in the grinding Israel-Hamas war. Egypt, however, has begun to escalate its language against Israel, referring to it widely Tuesday as the "enemy" for the first time in years.
Rubio, speaking to journalists in Israel before his departure, suggested the offensive on Gaza City had begun.
"We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen," Rubio said. "We don't have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks so it's a key moment — an important moment."
"Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this ends through a negotiated settlement," he added, while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza.
"The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever," Rubio said. "At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out."
Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows
After weeks of threatening an expansion of the Israeli military operation in Gaza City, Katz signaled it had begun.
"Gaza is burning," he said early on Tuesday morning. "The (Israel military) is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission."
The United Nations estimated on Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings.
At least 20 Palestinians killed in Gaza City
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning.
The city's Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighborhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility in recent hours.
"A very tough night in Gaza," Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press
"The bombing did not stop for a single moment," he said. "There are still bodies under the rubble."
The Israeli military did not respond to immediate requests for comment on the strikes but in the past has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City.
Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation
Overnight, families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence, pleading with him to stop the Gaza City operation.
Some pitched tents and slept outside his home in protest.
"I have one interest — for this country to wake up and bring back my child along with 47 other hostages, both living and deceased, and to bring our soldiers home," Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza, shouted outside Netanyahu's residence.
"If he stops at nothing and sends our precious, brave, heroic soldiers to fight while our hostages are being used as human shields — he is not a worthy prime minister," Zangauker.
Israel believes around 20 of the 48 hostages still held by the militants in Gaza, including Matan, are alive. Hamas has said it will only free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefires brokered in part by Qatar or other deals.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many were civilians or combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, says women and children make up around half the dead.
Egypt escalates its rhetoric against Israel
Egypt, which has had a peace deal with Israel for decades and has served as a mediator in the war in Gaza, appears to be losing its patience with Israel.
Egypt's president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, described Israel as "an enemy" in a fiery speech at the Qatar summit Monday. It was the first time an Egyptian leader used the term since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, said Diaa Rashwan, head of Egyptian government's State Information Service.
Egypt was the first Arab country to establish ties with Israel and their peace treaty is seen as a cornerstone for stability in the volatile region.
"Egypt is being threatened," Rashwan told the state-run Extra News television late Monday.
El-Sissi's "enemy" comment played prominently across Egyptian newspapers' front pages on Tuesday and while Cairo has taken no steps to change its status with Israel, the Egyptian government likely is trying to signal just how seriously it takes Israel's recent actions.
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