Israel has begun a ground offensive in Gaza City.
Palestinians on the ground have told international media that Israel carried out its most intense bombing since October 2023 overnight.
Israel’s military action has been met with widespread condemnation from international governments, the UN, and families of hostages taken by Hamas.
The offensive began shortly after a UN commission of inquiry announced it had found Israel was carrying out a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel has called the finding “fake”.
Evacuation orders
An estimated one million people live in Gaza City, an area of around 45km².
International authorities recently declared Gaza City is in famine.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) issued evacuation warnings ahead of the ground offensive, telling Palestinians to go to a “humanitarian zone” in Al Mawasi in south Gaza. The IDF said it was targeting Hamas.
UNICEF called the displacements “inhumane,” with a spokesperson describing “thirsty and starving” families fleeing the city on foot.
The UN estimates close to 90% of Gaza is under Israeli military evacuation orders, and that Israeli strikes have hit more than 90% of all residential buildings in the enclave.
Satellite images published by Reuters show Al Mawasi crowded with tents.
The UN office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Israel had “not taken effective steps to ensure the safety of those forced to move there,” and had not provided enough space or services for those already there.
It has previously accused the IDF of targeting displaced Palestinians’ tents in Al Mawasi, “killing entire families”.
Offensive
Details of the scale and impact of the offensive are still emerging, including the death toll.
International media reports troops have moved into the city from its outskirts, and the IDF has carried out heavy waves of bombing with drones and helicopters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the city “the last important stronghold of Hamas”.
Condemnation
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UN Secretary-General António Guterres described Israel’s attacks on Gaza City as “morally, politically, and legally intolerable,” saying he doesn’t believe “Israel is interested in a serious ceasefire”.
UK Foreign Affairs Minister Yvette Cooper said the offensive was “utterly reckless and appalling.”
Families of hostages taken by Hamas have protested outside Netanyahu’s office, saying the offensive endangers their loved ones.
Genocide
The announcement of the offensive came soon after a UN commission of inquiry found Israel has carried out a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The commission, based in the UN’s human rights office, examined Israeli military actions and comments by political leadership from 7 October 2023 to 31 July 2025.
Genocide is defined under international law as killing members of a “national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,” or making their survival impossible.
The commission found Israeli forces have, with the approval of leadership:
- killed “unprecedented numbers” of Palestinians in Gaza
- caused them “serious bodily or mental harm,”
- created conditions “calculated to bring about [their] destruction,”
- and worked to prevent more Palestinians from being born, e.g. by bombing maternity hospitals and an IVF clinic.
A separate committee from the UN human rights office found Israel’s actions were “consistent with genocide” in November 2024.
Israel denied the allegations.
Reaction
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the report showed the Israeli Government was “more isolated than ever,” and that its actions would be judged by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ oversees disputes between countries. Its decisions are typically binding but hard to enforce. It has only ever made one finding that a country has committed genocide.
South Africa has an active case against Israel in the ICJ, accusing it of committing and failing to prevent genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel rejects the allegations.
