Israel intensifies Gaza City attacks, forcing starving Palestinians to flee

Israel’s subject has stepped up attacks connected Gaza City arsenic portion of its expanded operations aimed astatine seizing the past large colonisation centre successful the enclave, forcing tens of thousands of starving Palestinians to fly again.

The Gaza City neighbourhoods of Zeitoun, Sabra, Remal and Tuffah person peculiarly borne the brunt of the Israeli bombardments successful caller days arsenic a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel’s plans to forcibly displace Palestinians to confederate Gaza would summation their suffering.

Thousands of families person fled Zeitoun, wherever days of continuous strikes person near the neighbourhood devastated. At slightest 7 radical were killed connected Sunday erstwhile an Israeli aerial onslaught deed al-Ahli Arab Hospital successful Gaza City.

Also connected Sunday, the Israeli subject said tents and instrumentality to erect shelters volition beryllium provided to the Palestinians who person been displaced aggregate times successful 22 months of war, which has been called an enactment of genocide by aggregate rights organisations.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah successful cardinal Gaza, said artillery occurrence and aerial raids person forced galore from their homes.

“The Zeitoun neighbourhood is simply a precise densely populated area, location to galore families, including those who person been sheltering there. Residents were amazed erstwhile the artillery shelling and the intensive aerial raids started. Some radical stayed. Others started moving. As the unit escalated, galore were forced to evacuate – hungry, devastated and displaced yet again, leaving down everything they had,” Khoudary said.

‘New question of genocide’

Israel past week announced plans to propulsion deeper into Gaza City and region its residents to the south, a determination that has drawn planetary condemnation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for warfare crimes, said civilians would beryllium moved to “safe zones” adjacent though these areas person besides been repeatedly bombed.

Nearly 90 percent of the 2.4 cardinal Palestinians successful Gaza stay displaced, and an overwhelming fig of them are present facing starvation. At slightest 7 much Palestinians died of starvation successful Gaza successful 24 hours, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said connected Sunday, raising the war’s hunger-related decease toll to 258, including 110 children, arsenic a effect of Israel’s ongoing siege of the enclave.

On Sunday, Israel killed astir astatine slightest 57 Palestinians, 38 of them assistance seekers, taking the full fig of Palestinians killed since the warfare began successful October 2023 to astir 62,000.

Hamas denounced Israel’s program to acceptable up tents successful the southbound arsenic a screen for wide displacement.

The radical said successful a connection that the measurement amounted to a “new question of genocide and displacement” and described it arsenic a “blatant deception intended to screen up a brutal transgression that the concern forces hole to execute”.

There was an ambiance of despair successful Gaza aft Israel’s latest forced displacement order, Maram Humaid, Al Jazeera’s online analogous from Gaza, posted connected X.

“There are nary words to picture however radical successful Gaza consciousness close now. Fear, helplessness, and symptom capable everyone arsenic they look a caller question of displacement and an Israeli crushed operation,” she posted.

“Family and friends’ WhatsApp groups are afloat of soundless screams and sorrow. God knows radical person suffered enough. Our minds are astir paralysed from thinking.”

A presumption from a Jordanian subject craft shows the Gaza Strip arsenic its unit prepares to behaviour a humanitarian assistance airdrop connected August 17, 2025 [Alaa Al Sukhni/Reuters]

Displaced and hopeless Palestinians are scrambling for scraps of nutrient arsenic they look much bombardment from Israeli forces.

The UN says 1 successful 5 children successful Gaza is malnourished arsenic tens of thousands trust connected foundation kitchens, whose tiny portions of nutrient tin beryllium their lone repast of the day.

“I came astatine 6am to the foundation room to get nutrient for my children, and if I don’t get immoderate now, I person to travel backmost successful the evening for different chance,” said Zeinab Nabahan, displaced from the Jabalia exile camp, told Al Jazeera.

“My children are starving connected tiny amounts of lentils oregon rice. My children haven’t had breadstuff oregon immoderate breakfast. They’ve been waiting for maine to permission with immoderate I tin get from the foundation kitchen.”

Another resident, Tayseer Naim, told Al Jazeera that “had it not been for God and foundation kitchens”, helium would not person survived. “We travel present astatine 8am and endure to get lentils oregon rice. We endure a lot, and we permission astatine midday and locomotion for astir a kilometre.”

‘Man-made famine’

On Sunday, the UN bureau for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that Gaza is facing a “man-made famine” and urged a instrumentality to a UN-led organisation system.

“We are very, precise adjacent to losing our corporate humanity,” Juliette Touma, the agency’s communications director, said successful a station connected X.

She said the situation had been fuelled by “deliberate attempts to regenerate the UN-coordinated humanitarian strategy done the politically motivated ‘GHF’.”

She warned the alternate strategy promoted by Israel and the United States “brings dehumanisation, chaos, and death” and stressed: “We indispensable instrumentality to a unified, UN-led coordination and organisation strategy based connected planetary humanitarian law. The abomination indispensable end.”

The World Food Programme (WFP) says contempt its teams “doing everything” to present nutrient assistance successful Gaza, existent supplies lone conscionable 47 percent of the intended target.

According to the UN agency, astir 500,000 radical are present connected the “brink of famine”, and that lone a ceasefire would let nutrient assistance to beryllium scaled up to the required levels.

The Government Media Office successful Gaza said Israel was deliberately starving Palestinians by blocking indispensable goods, including babe formula, nutritional supplements, meat, fish, dairy products, and frozen fruits and vegetables.

In a connection connected Telegram, it said Israel was carrying retired “a systematic argumentation of engineered starvation and dilatory sidesplitting against much than 2.4 cardinal radical successful Gaza, including much than 1.2 cardinal Palestinian children, successful a implicit transgression of genocide”.

It warned that much than 40,000 infants look terrible malnutrition portion astatine slightest 100,000 different children and patients are successful a akin condition.

Amjad Shawa, manager of the Palestinian NGOs Network successful Gaza City, told Al Jazeera that assistance workers were struggling to respond arsenic resources collapse.

“We are trying to bash our best. We are … portion of this societal fabric. We are linked to the radical here, and we are staying with them portion Israel threatens to use its plans to forcibly evacuate Gaza City and destruct the remainder of Gaza. There are 1.1 cardinal radical here, astir of them elderly, women, children and radical with disabilities,” Shawa said.

He said workers continued to supply constricted meals, aesculapian attraction and acquisition but warned that “the humanitarian strategy is collapsing” arsenic Israel strikes assistance facilities and restricts supplies.