By -Deepika lama|
America News World
September 16, 2025 – Jerusalem/Gaza City
In a dramatic escalation of the ongoing conflict, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz declared on Tuesday that “Gaza is burning,” pledging that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would strike “with an iron fist” until Hamas is eradicated and the remaining hostages are rescued. The stark announcement came alongside the Israeli military’s unprecedented order for the complete evacuation of Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians already battered by nearly two years of war, famine-like conditions, and repeated displacements.
An Israeli army flare drifts over buildings destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in the northern Gaza Strip.(AP)
Katz’s statement, posted on X (formerly Twitter), emphasized Israel’s unyielding commitment: “We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.” This vow aligns with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent warnings that the destruction of high-rise buildings in Gaza City over the past 48 hours—dubbed “terror towers” by Israeli officials for their alleged use by Hamas in military operations—represents “only the beginning” of a broader ground assault aimed at seizing the city, described as the militant group’s final stronghold.
The evacuation order, issued early Tuesday via leaflets airdropped over the rubble-strewn streets of Gaza City, has triggered scenes of chaos and despair. Associated Press journalists reported heavier-than-usual traffic clogging escape routes southward, with families piling belongings onto cars, trucks, and even donkey carts. “The roads are a nightmare—people are screaming, children are crying, and there’s nowhere safe to go,” one fleeing resident told reporters, clutching a makeshift bundle of clothes and documents. The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, addressed residents directly on social media: “Staying in the city is extremely dangerous.” The directive covers all neighborhoods of Gaza City, urging an immediate exodus to southern areas like al-Mawasi, which have already swelled with over 1 million displaced people since the war’s onset.
Yet, for many, flight is an impossible luxury. Aid organizations, including the United Nations, estimate that relocating a single family costs more than $1,000—far beyond the means of most Gazans, who face acute shortages of cash, fuel, and transport amid a crippling blockade. Southern shelters are overwhelmed, with reports of overcrowding, dwindling food supplies, and rampant disease. “There’s no place left,” lamented a Gaza City shopkeeper who chose to stay, according to eyewitness accounts. The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, warned last week of a “closing window” to avert full-scale famine in central and southern Gaza by month’s end, criticizing Israel for restricting aid inflows despite controlling border crossings.
The humanitarian catastrophe unfolds against a backdrop of intensified Israeli operations. Over the past two days, the IDF has demolished at least 50 high-rise structures in Gaza City, claiming they housed Hamas command centers, observation posts, and weapons caches. Videos shared by Katz on X depicted collapsing towers plunging into the sea or erupting in flames, with captions like “Drowning the centers of terror and incitement” and “The Islamic University in Gaza goes up in smoke—eliminating sources of incitement and terror.” Netanyahu, addressing the Knesset on Monday, framed these strikes as preparatory for a “main, intensive operation” to occupy the city and dismantle Hamas infrastructure.
Gaza’s civil defense teams reported grim recoveries on Tuesday: survivors pulled from debris, alongside bodies retrieved from collapsed buildings. Officials fear dozens more remain trapped, with rescue efforts hampered by ongoing airstrikes that killed at least 83 people in the last 24 hours, per the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry’s figures paint a devastating toll since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel—which claimed 1,200 lives and saw 251 hostages taken: over 64,000 Palestinians killed, 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population displaced at least once, and vast swaths of the territory reduced to ruins.
Inside Gaza, defiance mingled with desperation. Medical staff at Al-Shifa and Al-Ahli hospitals—two of the few still operational in the north—vowed to stay put. “We will never leave our land. Health care workers won’t leave, and we are calling for protection,” declared Dr. Muneer al-Boursh of Gaza’s Health Ministry during a protest amid the evacuation leaflets. Cancer patients in tent encampments expressed terror, with one elderly woman telling Reuters, “We’ve been bombed out of our homes before. Where do we go now? The south is a graveyard too.”
In Jerusalem, the human cost reverberated through hostage families pleading for restraint. Iair Horn, a former captive whose brother remains in Gaza, urged lawmakers: “If I was released through a deal, then apparently that’s the right way to free the rest.” About 100 hostages are believed still held, with negotiations stalled despite intermittent ceasefires earlier this year that briefly allowed some returns to Gaza City—only for many to be trapped again by renewed fighting.
The offensive has drawn sharp international rebuke. Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, speaking alongside his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem on Sunday, called for Israel to “change course.” UN agencies decried the “horrific humanitarian consequences,” noting over 97,000 new displacements since mid-August, with only half observed crossing south. The U.S., a key Israeli ally, has pushed for expanded aid sites—from four to 16—but none will be in Gaza City, per diplomatic sources. Critics, including human rights groups, accuse Israel of collective punishment, while Jerusalem insists the measures are targeted self-defense against Hamas regrouping.
Violence has spilled beyond Gaza. In the West Bank, two 14-year-old Palestinian boys were fatally shot by Israeli forces in Jenin on Monday, amid raids targeting militants. Hours later, six Israelis were killed in Jerusalem when two gunmen opened fire at a bus stop; Israel responded by revoking hundreds of Palestinian work permits and sanctioning the attackers’ families, including home demolitions in their villages.
As flares illuminate the night sky over Gaza’s shattered skyline, the world watches a potential tipping point. Satellite imagery from early September shows Gaza City’s once-bustling commercial hubs—like Omar Mukhtar Street—now tent cities amid craters. With the IDF poised for full incursion, questions loom: Will this “iron fist” shatter Hamas, or entrench a cycle of suffering? Aid workers plead for a ceasefire; Netanyahu promises victory. For Gaza’s residents, survival hangs by a thread.
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