The families of hostages being held in Gaza frantically scrambled to organize a protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem residence overnight Monday-Tuesday amid reports that the IDF had commenced ground operations aimed at implementing the long-pledged takeover of Gaza City, which they fear will endanger their loved ones.
Several Palestinian media sites said that Israeli tanks had entered the northern Gaza city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering, but those reports weren’t confirmed, and the IDF did not issue a corroborating statement.
While the commencement of a ground operation appeared inconclusive, the IDF was undoubtedly intensifying its operations around Gaza City.
Palestinian media outlets reported that the IDF was hitting Gaza City with warplanes, artillery and drones, causing massive explosions that could be heard from afar. Even residents of central Israel reported feeling vibrations from the strikes.
“There is heavy, relentless bombing on Gaza City, and the danger keeps increasing,” witness Ahmed Ghazal said overnight Monday-Tuesday, adding that homes have been destroyed and residents are trapped under the rubble.
“We can hear their screams,” said the 25-year-old Gaza City resident.
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defense agency, told AFP that “bombing is still ongoing heavily across Gaza City, and the number of deaths and injuries continues to rise.”
In recent days, the military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Gaza City, including against tall buildings, ahead of a looming offensive against Hamas in the area.
Israeli officials have say 300,000 Palestinians have heeded the IDF’s calls for civilians to evacuate Gaza City in recent weeks after the population had ballooned to roughly one million displaced people earlier this year.
The evacuation orders have had limited success, as many Palestinians that other areas in the Strip are no safer and as Hamas has urged Gazans not to heed the Israeli warnings. The Strip’s population of roughly two million had already been squeezed into areas encompassing less than a quarter of the enclave before the Gaza City operation commenced.
The intensified bombings came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new offensive in Gaza City and his stated goal of eradicating Hamas.
Rubio showed no daylight between himself and Netanyahu on a visit to Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel could “count on our unwavering support” for its military push in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Also on Monday, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had recently read a report claiming that Hamas has positioned hostages as human shields in Gaza City, calling it a “human atrocity” and threatening the terror group.
“I have just read a news report that Hamas has moved the hostages above ground to use them as human shields against Israel’s ground offensive,” Trump wrote.
“I hope the Leaders of Hamas know what they’re getting into if they do such a thing. This is a human atrocity, the likes of which few people have ever seen before. Don’t let this happen or, ALL ‘BETS’ ARE OFF. RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES NOW!” he added.
The US president has issued a number of threats against the Hamas terror group if it does not cede to demands, but it was not clear what actions — if any — he intends to take.
On Sunday night, the mother of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal said she had received information that her son had been moved above ground in Gaza City to serve as a human shield for Hamas operatives.
Trump later reiterated his warning to Hamas in comments to reporters from the Oval Office.
“Thank you, President Trump, for your unflinching support for Israel’s battle against Hamas and the release of all our hostages,” Netanyahu tweeted minutes after Trump’s Truth Social post.
Hamas later hit back at Trump, claiming his comments demonstrated “blatant bias in favor of Zionist propaganda.”
The terror group said Trump knows well that Netanyahu is the one destroying all chances of reaching an agreement that would end the war in Gaza.
Hamas added that it holds the US — along with Israel — responsible for the escalating war in Gaza.
“War criminal Netanyahu bears full responsibility for the lives of his prisoners in the Gaza Strip,” the group said, adding that the Gaza City takeover risks the lives of the hostages.
“Washington knows that Netanyahu is sabotaging the chances of any agreement, most recently by attempting to assassinate the negotiating delegation in Qatar while they were discussing Trump’s final deal,” Hamas said.
Amid reports that the IDF was beginning the first stages of its attack on Gaza City, the Hostages Families Forum issued a desperate plea late Monday night to protect their loved ones, accusing Netanyahu of sacrificing them.
“The 710th night in Gaza might be the last night in the lives of the hostages who are barely surviving, and the last night of the ability to locate and return the slain hostages for a proper burial,” the group said in a statement.
The group alleges that a significant number of the 20 hostages considered by Israel to be alive are being held in Gaza City.
“The prime minister is consciously choosing to sacrifice them on the altar of political considerations,” the group adds, accusing him of ignoring advice from the IDF chief of staff, who has reportedly warned against the operation.
The mother of hostage Matan Angrest said her son was being held in the area being struck by the IDF in Gaza City overnight Monday-Tuesday.
“I won’t let this be his last night (alive). I’m on my way to the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem. Come with me!” Anat Angrest tweeted.
The IDF has said that it is taking steps to avoid targeting areas where the hostages are held, though, it has in the past unknowingly done so, leading indirectly or directly to the deaths of a number of hostages.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is also being held in Gaza, tweeted, “We hear the bombings on our children and we can’t sit at home.”
She accused Netanyahu of deciding to kill the hostages and of “sacrificing an entire country for his political survival.
“We are going out to demand the return of our children in a comprehensive deal to end the war,” Zangauker added.
Hostage Nimrod Cohen’s mother Vicky Cohen addressed her son directly in an X post.
“My child, I know that the bombings around you are shaking the tunnel you are in,” she wrote.
“I wish I could just tell you to take care of yourself, but we both know that this is not in your control. I am sending you strength and asking you: Be strong, and don’t break.”
Former hostage Arbel Yehoud, whose boyfriend Ariel Cunio is still being held in Gaza, wrote an appeal to the public on Instagram as she made her way to Jerusalem for the protest outside Netanyahu’s residence.
“My Ariel is in real danger. The sounds of the explosions from Gaza shake the walls of my home and the chambers of my heart. I am going up to Jerusalem to the prime minister’s residence, and I need you with me to save everyone,” she writes.
The Hostage Family Forum subsequently issued a statement saying that Netanyahu had heard about the “families’ intention to come demonstrate near his home in Jerusalem and fled within minutes.”
The forum reiterated its call for the public to join them in Jerusalem for the protest.
Turnout was somewhat limited, likely due to the last-minute nature of the protest and the late hour at which it was called.
The parents of hostages Matan Zangauker, Matan Angrest and Rom Braslavski camped out in sleeping bags on Azza Street after police barred them from bringing tents onto the street.
They were joined by the mother of slain hostage Guy Iluz and other relatives of the 48 captives still being held in Gaza.
Zangauker’s mother Einav told reporters that the families don’t intend to leave, as they fear that the military’s operations ordered by the government are endangering their loved ones.
“Sara (Netanyahu), come out here and tell me what you promised me in Nir Oz. There are other fathers and mothers here too. Come out and tell me how you lied to my face, how you told me that you were going to bring a deal that returns everyone home. Come out and tell me how you lied to me. You know how to meet with families behind closed doors, away from the media, away from everything, where you sell them complete nonsense. Enough!” Zangauker could be heard shouting.
“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,” she continued.
Netanyahu “doesn’t like hearing us here, so he ran away like a coward. We will follow him everywhere, day and night. It’s over. The gloves are off. 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 worthy of being prime minister!” she adds.