"Gaza is burning," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Tuesday. "We will not relent and we will not go back - until the completion of the mission."
The Israeli military launched the mainstay of its ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, advancing slowly into the densely populated urban center, which has already suffered immense destruction due to airstrikes. Residents are being told to immediately evacuate to the south. Huge lines of vehicles packed with families' belongings could be seen scrambling to get out of the war-ravaged city.
Gaza City residents told Al Jazeera they are subject to "heavy, relentless" bombardment - and least 68 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes across Gaza since dawn. Videos also showed huge explosions rocking the city on Tuesday, with large bombs concentrated Tal al-Hawa, a neighborhood in the south of Gaza City.
Currently, many Arab and Islamic leaders are gathered in the Qatari capital of Doha, where they condemned the new IDF military's push deeper into Gaza City, decrying it as a "cowardly" attack and pronouncing it as "genocide".
Also in Qatar is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who interestingly after expressing ironclad commitment to Israel, still said: "We have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen," and that extended warfare could "deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza." He further declared that "The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one."
He added, "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." He had expressed while in Israel Monday that peace for Gaza may not be possible
As for Israel, it has called up 60,000 more reservists to accomplish the new "expanded ground operations" in Gaza City. This is already after putting the country on alert.
The past week has seen Israel pull down several high-rise buildings in the area of fighting, leaving them rubble, alleging they were used by Hamas...
The Gaza City assault is expected to worsen the Strip's already horrific internal refugee crisis and food crisis, after the UN and various monitoring groups have confirmed famine in some sectors. Dozens if not hundreds of civilians have already died of starvation.
Interestingly, amid anti-Netanyahu protests in major cities and even near his personal residence, some Israeli reservists are revolting, intentionally failing to report for duty. Haaretz earlier this month reported that some 350 Israeli reservists signed a statement opposing the takeover of Gaza City and renewed military assault there.
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