Israeli occupation forces pushed deeper into Gaza City on Thursday, intensifying a broad offensive across multiple neighborhoods. The assault, part of a continuing ground campaign, prompted Hamas to escalate its warnings over the safety of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
“We were too broke to leave. I stayed in a tent near the university with my kids. But today, after the drones fired at us, I thought one of my children would die,” Maisara Abdelhadi, 42, told Al Manassa. “So we packed what little we had and walked. We didn’t have a choice.”
Low-flying drones had opened fire on tents near Islamic University and Al-Azhar University in southern Gaza, wounding at least three people and forcing families to flee on foot. Maisara was among the last to leave. “People walked along the coastal road because if they stayed in their tents, they were shot at,” he said.
On Al-Rasheed Street, the only remaining evacuation corridor, Tel Al-Hawa teetered on collapse. Israeli tanks advanced within meters of the road, threatening to cut off thousands of displaced Palestinians trying to flee south.
“The tanks are everywhere, coming out of side streets like ghosts,” Ahmed, 28, told Al Manassa as he tried to evacuate his younger siblings. “The moment a person is seen, they're fired on. It’s like they want us to run, and then gun us down.”
Rawan, another resident, told Al Manassa that Israeli forces had taken control of most residential blocks in the neighborhood. “They haven’t blocked Al-Rasheed yet, but we know they will. We can feel it.”
Closer to Al-Sinaa Street, Israeli bulldozers began disinterring the land near the Jordanian Field Hospital, which had already been evacuated two days earlier. “It’s no longer a hospital zone. It’s a battlefield,” said Bilal, 51, a resident, speaking to Al Manassa.
As the ground invasion deepened, Hamas and its armed wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, issued a terse warning through encrypted Telegram channels: any further Israeli advance, particularly in Tel Al-Hawa, would jeopardize the safety of Israeli captives.
“The more you expand your criminal operations in Gaza City, the greater the danger to your captives,” the statement read. The threat echoed a prior allusion to the fate of Ron Arad, hinting that escalation could once again lead to indefinite captivity or death without closure.
Elsewhere in the Strip, Israeli airstrikes and artillery killed more than 110 Palestinians overnight, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Many remain trapped under the rubble.
In Al-Zawaida, central Gaza, a missile flattened a three-story home. Eleven bodies, some in pieces, were recovered and taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which also received more than a dozen wounded.
“That house sheltered over 30 people—kids, elders, everyone,” Mahmoud, a neighbor to the victims, told Al Manassa. “Now it’s gone. Just dust.”
In Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, a bombardment tore through a displacement site, killing 11 and injuring 17. “It hit the tents directly. No warning. Just fire, then screams,” said Nour, who had lost two relatives.
At the Al-Firas market area near the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, a missile strike killed 22 Palestinians, many of them women and children, inside a displacement encampment.
“It destroyed everything—tents, water tanks, people. Some of these families had already fled three or four times,” Amal, 33, told Al Manassa.
Israel’s war on Gaza, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians and injured more than 167,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. At least 442 people, including 147 children, have died from famine caused by Israel’s siege on aid.
On Aug. 8, 2025, Israel’s security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for full military control over Gaza City. The Israeli army had pledged to provide temporary shelter equipment to relocate civilians south for their safety, a promise now shattered under the weight of bombs and bulldozers.
Israel claims that Hamas holds 48 Israeli captives, of whom 20 are believed to still be alive. In contrast, more than 10,800 Palestinians remain detained by Israel, with human rights groups documenting widespread torture and medical neglect.
On Sept. 16, 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concluded that “the state of Israel had committed a genocide” as its relentless assault on the Strip approaches its second year.
