Palestinian Families Flee Gaza City Amid Ongoing Israeli Strikes

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -More Palestinian families left Gaza City on Tuesday after a night of Israeli shelling on its outskirts, as Israelis launched a day of nationwide protests calling for hostages to be released and the war in Gaza to end.

Residents said Israeli aerial and tank shelling continued throughout the night and early on Tuesday in the eastern Gaza City suburbs of Sabra, Shejaia, and Tuffah, as well as in Jabalia town to the north, destroying roads and houses.

"Earthquakes, we call it, they want to scare people to leave their homes," said Ismail, 40, a Gaza City resident.

The Israeli military has said its forces are operating in the area to locate weapons and destroy tunnels used by militants. Despite widespread protests at home and international condemnation, Israel is preparing to launch a new offensive in Gaza City, in what it describes as Hamas' last bastion.

Israeli strikes at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday killed at least 20 people, including journalists working for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

At least 34 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the enclave overnight and on Tuesday, local health authorities said, including 18 people around Gaza City.

Around half of the enclave's two million people currently live in Gaza City, with several thousand already moved westward, pouring into the heart of the city and along the coast.

Others have ventured further south to central Gaza and the coastal area of Al-Muwasi near Khan Younis.

Monday's attack on Nasser hospital in Khan Younis killed cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, near a live broadcasting position operated by Reuters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel deeply regretted what he called a "tragic mishap," but the Israeli military has yet to provide details of the incident.

ISRAELI 'DAY OF DISRUPTION'

Israeli protesters blocked roads in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the country, holding up pictures of hostages still held in Gaza and calling for the war to end. A rally planned outside Israel's defence headquarters later on Tuesday is expected to draw thousands of people.

"For 690 days, the government has been waging a war without a clear objective," said Einav Zangauker, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, in a statement with other hostage families who launched the so-called Day of Disruption.

"How will the hostages, the living and the fallen, be returned? Who will govern Gaza the day after? How do we rebuild our country?" she said.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages.

Israel's military offensive against Hamas has since killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry, plunged the enclave into a humanitarian crisis and internally displaced nearly its entire population.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Rami Amichay in Tel Aviv; Editing by Ros Russell)