Israeli troops push further into Gaza City as more Palestinians flee

1 hour ago 1

By Julia Frankel and Samy Magdy

September 18, 2025 — 6.01am

Jerusalem: Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday as more people fled the devastated area, and strikes cut off phone and internet services, making it harder for Palestinians to summon ambulances during the military’s new offensive.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war surpassed 65,000, local health officials said.

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City along the coastal road toward southern Gaza on Wednesday.

The Israeli military said air force and artillery units had struck the city more than 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes toppled high-rise towers in areas with densely populated tent camps. Israel claims the towers were being used by Hamas to watch troops.

Regulators said the severed phone and internet services hindered the ability of Palestinians to call for help, co-ordinate evacuations or share details of the offensive that began on Monday and aims to take full control of the city.

Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, hospital officials reported. The death count in Gaza climbed to 65,062, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government.

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right finance minister has said Gaza could be a “real estate bonanza” and that he was discussing with the Trump administration how to share the proceeds.

Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party is integral to Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on power.

Bezalel Smotrich, speaking at an urban renewal conference in Tel Aviv, said a “business plan” has been submitted to President Donald Trump.

“We paid a lot of money for this war, so we need to divide how we make a percentage on the land marketing later in Gaza,” he said.

“And now, no kidding, we’ve done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal. Now we need to build. It’s much cheaper.”

Smotrich, a key ally in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, wants to continue the war until Hamas is eradicated, relocate much of Gaza’s population to other countries through what they refer to as “voluntary emigration”, and rebuild Jewish settlements that were dismantled in 2005.

His remarks came as the foreign minister of neighbouring Egypt denounced any “voluntary emigration” measures, saying they would have “serious repercussions for the security and stability of the region”.

Israeli tanks line up near the Gaza border.

“Palestinians should never be forced to leave their homeland”, Badr Abdelatty told Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly, the English version of the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, published on Wednesday.

“We will not tolerate a second Nakba,” he added. Nakba is the Arabic for the “catastrophe” and refers to the mass expulsion of about 700,000 Palestinians from what is now Israel during the 1948 war that surrounded its creation.

Israeli bombardment has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90 per cent of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts announcing famine in Gaza City.

As Palestinians streamed out of the city, some by car, others on foot, Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days beginning on Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City carrying their belongings along the coastal road toward southern Gaza.

An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the Gaza City region before warnings to evacuate began ahead of the offensive. The Israeli military estimates 350,000 people have left the city, while the UN estimates that more than 238,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month. Hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

The Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, based in the occupied West Bank, said Israeli strikes on the main network lines in northern Gaza had cut off internet and telephone services on Wednesday morning. The Associated Press tried unsuccessfully to reach many people in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident and that it does not deliberately target public communication networks.

Children and parents among the latest fatalities

More than half of the Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes were in famine-stricken Gaza City, including a child and his mother who died in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.

In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, killing three, including a pregnant woman.

Palestinians search for wood to sell or use for cooking amid the rubble of a building in Gaza City.

Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi area west of the city of Khan Younis, said officials from Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians and that it would continue to operate against “terrorist organisations” in Gaza.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said earlier this week they believe there are 2000 to 3000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the group.

The Gaza Health Ministry said multiple Israeli strikes hit the Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City on Tuesday night. It posted pictures on Facebook showing the damaged roof, water tanks and rubble in a hospital hallway.

Aid groups condemn offensive

A coalition of leading aid groups on Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive on Gaza City.

The action came a day after a commission of UN experts found Israel was committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Israel denies the allegation.

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the statement from the aid groups.

“States must use every available political, economic and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”

The message was signed by leaders of over 20 aid organisations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Anera and Save the Children.