Over 30 killed in airstrikes as Israel intensifies Gaza offensive

At least 32 people were killed in airstrikes across Gaza City as Israel mounted an offensive there and asked Palestinians to vacate, medical staff members said on Saturday (September 13).

Among the dead were 12 children, said staff in the morgue of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the bodies were brought.

Israel has ramped up its strikes across Gaza City recently, destroying several high-rise buildings. It has also accused Hamas of putting surveillance equipment in them. Israel also asked the residents to leave, as part of its mission to take over the larger Palestinian city, which it says is the militant outfit’s final bastion.

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The people of Gaza have been battling conditions of famine, besides the war offensives.

Family of 10 eliminated

A family of 10 was eradicated in one of the latest strikes overnight and into early Saturday morning, said health officials. The tragedy happened when a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood was hit. The deceased included a woman and her three children. Images showed the strikes hitting, followed by a plume of smoke billowing out.

The Israeli Army did not respond to questions about the strikes immediately.

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The number of people leaving Gaza City has increased in recent times, amid growing hostilities and calls for evacuation, aid workers have said. Still, many people have stayed back, either because of high transportation and housing expenses, or due to fatigue from getting displaced too many times. They don’t want to shift again, disbelieving that any place in the enclave is safe.

Palestinians told to go to 'humanitarian zone'

On Saturday, the Israeli forces asked the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City in a social media message to leave “immediately” and head south to what it refers to as the humanitarian zone.

Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said over a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City, from an estimated 1 million who live in the area of north Gaza around the city.

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The United Nations (UN), however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The world body and aid groups have cautioned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will worsen the dire humanitarian crisis.

Sites in southern Gaza where Israel is telling people to go are overcrowded, according to the UN, and it can be expensive for many people who don’t have the means.

An initiative headed by the UN to bring temporary shelters into Gaza said more than 86,000 tents and other supplies were still awaiting clearance to enter Gaza as of last week.

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On Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, raising the toll to 420, including 145 children, since the war began.

The latest bombardment across Gaza City occurred days after Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, intensifying its campaign against the group and endangering negotiations over ending the war in Gaza.

Israel's attacks on Qatar

Tensions prevailed at the UN Security Council this week as Qatar slammed Israel, accusing it of undermining the mediation efforts in Gaza intentionally, by targeting the Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday (September 9).

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the council that Israel showed little concern for the hostages' lives and said Doha would continue its efforts to reach a truce. Five Hamas leaders were reportedly killed in the attack.

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Families of the hostages still held in Gaza are pleading with Israel to halt the offensive, worried it'll kill their relatives. There are 48 hostages still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive.

The war in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel then launched a massive retaliation, and the offensive killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

It said around half of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities have been destroyed, and around 90 per cent of some two million Palestinians have found themselves displaced.

(With Agency inputs)