[News] Israel intensifies assault to wipe Gaza City 'off the map

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  Israel intensifies assault to wipe Gaza City 'off the map'

Israel launched a media campaign claiming enough food is entering Gaza, 
even as the number of Palestinians starving to death continues to grow

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

AUG 16, 2025 
-https://thecradle.co/articles/israel-intensifies-assault-to-wipe-gaza-city-off-the-map

(Photo credit: France 24/ Noga TARNOPOLSKY)

Israeli forces have intensified their assault on two neighborhoods east 
of Gaza City, unleashing what residents describe as relentless 
bombardment that has left much of the area in ruins. The offensive is 
part of Israel’s newly approved plan to capture the entire city and 
forcibly expel its residents.

Relentless Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling in recent days 
have targeted the Al-Zaytoun and Sabra neighborhoods, which lie just 
east of Gaza City, /Al Jazeera’s/ Hind Khoury reported 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/8/16/live-israel-kills-at-least-1760-people-seeking-aid-in-gaza-since-may-un?update=3891604>on 
16 August.

“There have been endless Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling, and 
continuous bombardment. People are saying the explosions do not stop. 
Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood is being wiped off the map,” Khoury stated.

Israeli bombing is destroying houses, schools, public facilities, and 
government buildings.

“Everything in Al-Zaytoun is being destroyed,” Khoury added.

Amid the heavy bombing and forced evacuation orders issued by the 
Israeli military, thousands of Palestinian families have been displaced, 
while others are remaining in their homes for fear they will be targeted 
if they flee.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal reported 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/15/israel-targets-emergency-workers-trying-to-help-people-trapped-in-gaza-city>that 
Israeli quadcopters had dropped leaflets demanding residents to leave 
sections of Al-Zaytoun, where hundreds of homes have recently been 
destroyed.

Basal added that Israeli troops had fired at ambulances trying to reach 
the wounded in Al-Zaytoun.

The Israeli military announced 
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-fresh-offensive-on-gaza-city-outskirts-idf-says-dozens-of-terror-targets-destroyed/>on 
Friday that it destroyed dozens of “terror targets” during the offensive 
and that its ground troops were involved in the campaign.

“Over the past few days, IDF troops have been operating in the 
Al-Zaytoun area, on the outskirts of Gaza City,” said a statement 
released by the Israeli military.

Gaza City resident Omar Hamad wrote 
<https://x.com/OmarHamadD/status/1956450375705534805>on X that after two 
days of relentless shelling, Israeli troops advancing from eastern Gaza 
have now reached Street 8 in the Tal al-Hawa area, just two kilometers 
from the sea and only half a kilometer from his home.

“The army’s entry into central Gaza is to turn it into a pile of sand – 
just as it did in Beit Hanoun and Rafah – not to ‘control’ it as it 
claims,” Hamad stated.

“For the past two days, the shelling and destruction of homes have not 
stopped for even a single moment. I don’t know why I am telling you 
this, but the situation is truly terrifying beyond measure. There has 
not been a worse stage than this since the beginning of the genocide. 
All of this is happening while people have been sedated with food after 
months of famine. Every move Israel makes is for a reason – and to begin 
a new type of genocide.”

Israel’s brutal assault on the eastern sections of Gaza City has been 
accompanied by a new media campaign seeking to obscure Israel’s efforts 
to starve Palestinians in Gaza.

On Friday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel led a tour at 
the Kerem Shalom crossing for dozens of foreign ambassadors, telling 
them that “unprecedented amounts of humanitarian aid” are entering Gaza.

“See the facts for yourselves. There is food in Gaza!” stated 
<https://x.com/IsraelMFA/status/1956372493872046406>Israel’s Foreign 
Ministry in a post on X promoting the tour.

Meanwhile, the number of Palestinians who have died in the strip from 
starvation under Israel’s siege has reached 240, including 107 children, 
according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

COGAT, the Israeli army organization responsible for civilian affairs in 
Gaza, claimed 
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/15/israel-targets-emergency-workers-trying-to-help-people-trapped-in-gaza-city>Thursday 
that it allowed 310 aid trucks to enter Gaza. The number was far short 
of the 500 to 600 the UN says are needed daily, on an ongoing basis, to 
avoid starving the population.

In addition to ensuring that not enough aid reaches Gaza, Israel has 
covertly armed 
<https://thecradle.co/articles/yasser-abu-shabab-israels-agent-of-chaos-in-gaza>Palestinian 
clans and protected them as they loot aid trucks entering the strip, 
while blaming the looting on Hamas.

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