Israel Prepares for Major Offensive in Gaza City, Raising Fears of Humanitarian Crisis and Potential Displacement of Thousands

In Gaza City, the Israeli military has asserted control over nearly half of the urban center, signaling a potential large-scale ground offensive to fully occupy the densely populated region.

Brigadier General Effie Defrin, the Israeli military spokesperson, announced that they now have operational control of approximately 40% of Gaza City and will continue to expand their operations in the coming days. The military has recalled around 60,000 reservists to support this extensive operation, which Israel claims is aimed at rescuing hostages and dismantling Hamas rule.

Last week, Israeli authorities designated all of Gaza City as a “dangerous combat zone” and have been targeting high-rise buildings in the city’s central and western neighborhoods. These areas, including the western shoreline, have been crowded for months with displaced people and temporary shelters.

Already, entire neighborhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City have been leveled by Israeli strikes, forcing thousands of Palestinian families to flee. Over the past three weeks, Gaza’s civil defense has reported that Israel has destroyed over 1,500 homes in the Zaytoun and Sabra neighborhoods of eastern Gaza City, a destruction that can be seen in satellite images.

The intensifying conflict in Gaza City marks nearly two years since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, which has claimed more than 64,200 lives, including one-third who were children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The conflict began in October 2023 with a Hamas-led attack on Israel that resulted in nearly 1,200 casualties and hostage takings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed reservists this week, describing the ongoing operations as a “critical phase” intended to defeat Hamas. Despite concerns from hundreds of former Israeli security officials who believe Hamas no longer poses a threat and that it’s time to end the war, Netanyahu enjoys tacit support from President Trump.

Large protests in Israel have demanded a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. Following President Trump’s call for Hamas to release Israeli hostages, the group stated they were ready to negotiate a deal for their release in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. However, the Israeli government has rejected this offer, labeling it as “propaganda.”

Netanyahu and his far-right coalition have expressed intentions to expand the war. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich outlined a vision for Gaza that involves annexing parts of the enclave by Israel and opening the gates for Palestinians to leave. He also suggested cutting off water and food supplies to those who remain in Gaza City.

U.N. aid agencies, along with France, the U.K., and other Western governments, have called on Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza City, warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Leading experts on hunger have already declared a famine in Gaza City due to Israeli restrictions on aid. As part of the planned assault, Israel will phase out aid to Gaza City, aiming to relocate the population southward. However, this relocation has been criticized as “unfeasible and incomprehensible” by the International Committee of the Red Cross, citing extreme shortages of food, water, shelter, and medical care across the territory.

Israel attempted to take control of Gaza City during the early stages of this war, imposing a siege and launching raids within its streets. Despite these efforts, tens of thousands of people remained in the city. Many more returned during a temporary ceasefire earlier this year.

Despite the military’s confidence, privately, they have expressed concerns about the risks associated with their plan. The Israeli military chief of staff has suggested that Israel may need to enforce military rule over Palestinians in Gaza City by November, according to sources briefed on the matter.

In northern Gaza City, loud explosions can be heard and seen as Israeli troops bombard homes and buildings. Dozens of people have been killed in recent days due to Israeli strikes across the city, according to the health ministry. Israeli tanks now encircle the coastal city from north, south, and east.

Israeli drones have reportedly opened fire on Palestinian families in areas of northern Gaza City. Tahiya Abu Warda, a 54-year-old grandmother with her grandson, fled these areas last week, saying the drones ordered them to leave and opened fire on them as well.

Abu Warda and others spoke to media outlets as they arrived in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of northern Gaza City, which was forcibly evacuated days later and subjected to heavy bombardment. Abu Warda fled with her grandson only with the clothes on her back and is now without shelter. Her grandson stands by her side thirsty for water, but there is none.

Other families were seen moving makeshift wagons filled with mattresses, empty jugs of water, clothes, and other essential items needed for survival.

The military has promised “abundant humanitarian aid” to Palestinians who flee south, but this aid has yet to materialize. Instead, the military has shared photos of smiling Palestinians atop cars with their belongings. Car rides south cost thousands of dollars due to the high price of fuel, which Israel restricts into Gaza and is in short supply.

Ibrahim Abu Humeidan, a father of two, told media outlets that his family has been displaced 17 or 18 times during the war. He said he’s lost count. He said the military fired “indiscriminately” at people to make them flee his neighborhood of Saftawi.

“I am here, tossed in the street, without any money. They’re telling us to move south. How?” he said, as he rested with some of his belongings on a sidewalk in Gaza City. “I don’t have money to get south. I don’t even have money to feed my kids.”

Abu Humeidan stated that there is no space in Gaza City or in Gaza’s south to set up a tent. The military has labeled such statements as “false rumors.” Recently, the military posted maps they claim show “vast empty areas” where people can put up tents in southern Gaza.

Israeli professor Yaakov Garb, an environmental studies expert who examines land patterns in Gaza, analyzed the military’s map using satellite imagery and found that the areas the military points to as empty are either in red military zones that are off-limits to Palestinians, or for weeks have been full of tents with displaced people, or are empty because they are shifting sand dunes where tents cannot be erected.

“These designations, as far as I can see, seem to be quite distanced from what’s actually going on on the ground and the needs of the population,” Garb said.

“This is so far from what might be considered any sort of planning for displaced populations,” he said, noting that this lack of planning by the military is happening “in advance of an emergency they’re about to create.”