The Israeli army issued a fresh evacuation order for a residential tower in Gaza City on Sunday, September 7, ahead of a planned bombing of the high-rise building, a day after it issued a similar warning. "The (army) will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside or nearby," army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement. "For your safety, you must evacuate the building immediately and move south toward the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi" area of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the army spokesperson added.
On Saturday, the military had issued a similar warning for the same building, the Al-Roya Tower, after the air force had demolished two other residential high-rises this week. The Al-Roya Tower was not struck on Saturday.
The warning came as the Israeli army pushed inside Gaza City in a bid to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the army was "deepening" its assault in and around Gaza City, as it seeks to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"We are deepening the manoeuvre on the outskirts of Gaza City and within Gaza City itself," Netanyahu told ministers at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a video shared by his office. "We are destroying terrorist infrastructure, we are demolishing identified terror towers," Netanyahu said.
Israel has not publicly announced the start of a major offensive to seize Gaza City, which Netanyahu's cabinet approved last month, but troops have intensified bombings and operations in the area for weeks.
The Israeli military has claimed that the two high-rises flattened in recent strikes were used by Hamas to "monitor" Israeli troops, an accusation denied by the Palestinian group. The escalation has fuelled fears of a further deterioration in already dire humanitarian conditions for Palestinians living in the area.
Netanyahu said that Israel had "established another humanitarian zone to allow the civilian population in Gaza to move to a safe area."
On Saturday, Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets over western neighborhoods of Gaza City urging residents to evacuate, witnesses and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist said. Netanyahu said around 100,000 residents had already left Gaza City, accusing Hamas of trying to prevent evacuations and of using civilians as "human shields."
Mustafa Al-Jamal, who lives in Gaza city, told AFP on Saturday that he did not plan to leave. He said the area in southern Gaza residents were told to evacuate to has been repeatedly bombed despite being declared "a safe zone." "Where can we go? We have no money, no tent, no house, no food."
Israeli protesters took to the streets on Saturday to call on their government to reverse the decision to conquer Gaza City, fearing for the fate of hostages believed to be held there.