Israeli forces seen building positions in Gaza as they take more ground

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Hatem Khaled

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops could be seen clearing ground and building watch towers on Monday in parts of Gaza they have seized in recent days in a renewed offensive that the United Nations says has already captured or depopulated two-thirds of the enclave.

The army has issued repeated evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands Palestinians in southern, central and northern areas since it resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, forcing them into a diminishing space limited by the sea.

Zakia Sami, 60, a mother of six from Gaza City, said she could see tanks occupying the high ground as she fled her home after the army ordered the family out of the eastern suburb of Shejaia.

"They have taken over the Al-Muntar hilltop where we used to go to play with our kids. Now they are stationed there and they can hit any house they want inside Shejaia,” she told Reuters via a chat app.

"Gaza has always been a small place and the Israelis are making it smaller and smaller every day. We are being strangled with no food and with bombs falling on us."

According to the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, the total area seized by Israel or placed under evacuation orders now covers 65% of the Gaza Strip. In Rafah alone, 140,000 people have been displaced over the past two weeks, according to the International Rescue Committee aid group.

A Palestinian journalist was killed on Monday and nine others were wounded, some critically, when an Israeli air strike hit a tent used by media inside the compound of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

People tried to douse flames in the tent in the early hours of Monday. Images were shared online showing a journalist in flames and another person trying to rescue him.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hassan Aslih, a Gaza-based reporter with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, whom it described as a Hamas militant and "terrorist who operates under the guise of a journalist". Medics said Aslih was critically wounded.

Israel announced plans last week to seize a "security zone" around the edges of the Gaza Strip, a month after a ceasefire expired. It has not said what its long-term plan is for the recaptured territory, but Palestinians fear it aims to occupy it permanently.

Residents said there were increasing signs the military was digging in for an extended stay, building watchtowers in Shejaia in the north and around the former Israeli settlement of Morag, between the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in the south.

Footage circulating on social media showed a large crane protected by machine guns and security cameras near Morag as well as earthmoving equipment at work near Shejaia.

Overnight the army issued evacuation warnings to several districts in Deir al-Balah and Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip, areas that have sheltered hundreds of thousands.

In Deir al-Balah, residents carried a wounded man in a blanket out of the rubble of a house that had been destroyed in an Israeli strike.

"There are still martyrs under the rubble. Our neighbours are martyrs," said Imad Hassan, a neighbour, who blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for encouraging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restart the Israeli campaign.

A report issued on Monday by the rights group Breaking the Silence quoted soldiers describing demolishing buildings and farmland to create the buffer zone.

WHERE DO WE GO?

"Where do we go? The question is of over two million people now. They are squeezing us," said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman, sheltering in Deir Al-Balah.

A ceasefire reached in January expired in March. Israel has said that its campaign in Gaza will continue until the remaining 59 hostages still held by Hamas and other militant groups are returned. Hamas says it will not free them without a deal that would bring a permanent end to the war.

Trump has spoken of removing the population of Gaza and turning the territory into a resort controlled by the United States. Israel has said it supports that plan and would encourage Palestinians to leave voluntarily.

The Hamas-run government media office said Israel's seizure of Rafah, a 60 square kilometre zone with a prewar population of around 300,000, showed its goal was "to empty the land of its people and erase its geographic and demographic identity".

The Israeli offensive in Gaza was launched after Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Hatem Khaled in Gaza; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Peter Graff)