Israel steps up Gaza City bombing after Netanyahu vow to expand offensive

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive against Hamas "fairly quickly".

An airstrike also killed six journalists including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif in a tent at Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital compound, the deadliest strike against journalists during an Israeli campaign that has lasted more than 22 months.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families westwards from their homes.

Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which Hamas says is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave's northern edges.

The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which was not expected to begin in the coming weeks.

   "It sounded like the war was restarting," said Amr Salah, 25. "Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried out what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The Israeli military said its forces on Sunday dismantled a launch site east of Gaza City, which Hamas used to fire rockets towards Israeli communities across the border.

Netanyahu on Sunday said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive. 

"I want to end the war as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to shorten the schedule for seizing control of Gaza City," he said.

Netanyahu said the new offensive would focus on Gaza City, which he described as Hamas' "capital of terrorism". He also indicated that the coastal area of central Gaza may be next, saying Hamas militants have been pushed there too.

The new plans have raised alarm abroad, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying on Monday they heralded "a disaster of unprecedented gravity" and "a move towards a never-ending war".

On Friday, Germany, a key European ally, announced it would halt exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. Britain and other European allies urged Israel to reconsider its decision to escalate the Gaza military campaign.

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, ignited the war.

Israel's planned offensive coincides with worsening hunger in Gaza.

On Monday, the territory's health ministry said five more people had died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours. That raised the number of deaths from such causes to 222, including 101 children, since the war began, the ministry said.

Israel says it has scaled up the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza in past weeks. Palestinian and U.N. officials say the aid is a fraction of what Gaza needs.

JOURNALISTS KILLED

Medics at Al Shifa Hospital said the airstrike that killed Al Jazeera's Al Sharif and four of his colleagues also killed local freelancer Mohammad Al-Khaldi, raising the number of dead journalists from the strike to six.

Israel confirmed it had targeted and killed Al Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel.

Al Jazeera rejected the claim, and before his death Al Sharif had also dismissed Israeli allegations that he had links to Hamas.

Hamas, the militant group which has run Gaza since 2007, linked his killing to the new planned offensive.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed in almost two years of war. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed.

Hamas-led fighters triggered the war in October 2023, when they stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 are thought to be alive.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel's campaign, according to Gaza health officials. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced multiple times and its residents are facing a humanitarian crisis, with swaths of the territory reduced to rubble.  

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Aidan Lewis)