Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) released video footage showing the 98th Division storming Gaza City at the start of the large-scale offensive against Hamas early on September 16.
In a statement, the military said that the division entered Gaza City with support from the Israeli Air Force and Navy, with dozens of “terror infrastructures” of Hamas being struck, including observation posts and booby-trapped buildings.
The division, an elite formation of paratroopers and commando units, joined the 162nd Division, which was already operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, according to the IDF, which noted that a third division, the 36th, will join the offensive in the coming few days.
The remaining civilians in Gaza City were instructed by the IDF to leave and head for an Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in the Strip’s south at the start of the offensive. The military estimated that only 40% of people have evacuated as of last night. Still, it moved on with the offensive.
Sources at Gaza’s hospitals tell our team that at least 89 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since the early hours of this morning.
According to Al-Jazeera, at least 89 people have been killed by IDF fire across the Strip since the start of the offensive. The vast majority, 79, were killed in Gaza City.
There has been no sign of any serious resistance by Hamas or any other Palestinian armed factions, although it is important to note that this may be just a tactic.
Commenting on the offensive, Defense Minister Israel Katz called on Hamas to release all the remaining Israeli hostages and disarm.
“From Hamas, we need only two things, and it will not give them voluntarily: to release all the hostages and to disarm. The great force of the attack here… is directly defeating Hamas, and it also creates a larger lever for the release of the hostages,” Katz said during a visit to the headquarters of the 162nd Division.
“We want to take control of Gaza City because today it is Hamas’s main governing symbol. Today, if Gaza falls… they will fall,” the minister added.
Katz also said that the “murderous Sinwar brothers,” Yahya and Muhammad, who led the group in the Strip before they were killed by Israel, “ruined Gaza, and if Izz al-Din Haddad continues like this, he will destroy Gaza,” referring to Hamas’s new military leader in Gaza.
“They will pay the price and Gaza will be destroyed,” he warned.
Hamas received more threats from IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who held an assessment on the offensive with Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, 98th Division commander Brig. Gen. Guy Levi, and other officers.
“On your shoulders rests the mission to deepen the strike against Hamas and to defeat the Gaza City Brigade, in order to carry out the moral and most important mission, the return of all the hostages home and the collapse of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities,” Zamir said during the assessment, according to remarks provided by the IDF.
Meanwhile, United States President Donald Trump said that he “doesn’t know too much” about the Israeli offensive in Gaza City.
“We’ll have to see,” Trump told reporters, reiterating his warning to Hamas not to use hostages as human shields, adding that the group “will have hell to pay” if it does so.
All in all, the IDF appears to be on its way to completely occupy Gaza City, although ground operations could take weeks, or even months.
While losing the city will be a blow to Hamas, it will likely bring about its end. The group has already survived similar large-scale offensives by the IDF in other parts of Gaza, mainly in the areas of Beit Hanoun, Rafah and Khan Younis. The only thing that the ongoing offensive is guaranteed to achieve is worsening the humanitarian situation in the Strip.
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no mercy for gazan terrorists!!!
heheheh
no mercy for jewish terrorists!!!
heheheh
how comes israel is still fighting a militia in gaza ?
seems weak to me.
remember when retarded bozo the clown prophesized a nuclear strike on moscow in the summer of 2025 ?
massive massive world class imbecile right here.
weaponless starving families are hardly a militia.
my last paycheck was $2500 for working 12 hours a week online. my sisters friend has been averaging 8k for months now and she works about 30 hours a week.i can’t believe how easy it was kaa once i tried it out. the potential with this is endless.this is what i do…
here► https://topgooglework.blogspot.com/
starved, herded, desolated innocent suffer in tragedy.
these videos accurately verify and define the un declared continuous genocide and war crimes. very hard to watch for those with any empathy left .
yes, that is so true. i got ill.
it’s clear that the zionists are completely, medically & certifiably insane and insade in the brain
they need to be permanently institutionalized for their own good & the good of others
as for the filthy rich, cowardl saracen leaders who could actually do something to save their own people by imposing, oil embargo, sanctions, closing air traffic, the suez canal, bosphorus, al-mandeb & hormusz straits. those saracen leaders should end up like müezzinzade ali pasha
free palestine!!! stop the genocide!!
disgusting trump zio-president and his words. a shame for humanity.
why should anyone of us listen what some israeli genocide maniac war criminal has to say? who give a fuck anyway? some pricks would read what that imbecile got to say. i wouldn’t care less.