Posted on 09/16/2025 9:29:38 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel launched its offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war as thousands of Palestinians fled in vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings that clogged a coastal road.
The operation into the largest Palestinian city escalated a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushed any ceasefire with Hamas farther out of reach. The military would not offer a timeline for the offensive that aims to crush the militant group’s ability to fight, but Israeli media suggested it could take months.
“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared as the operation began. Heavy bombardment pounded the city, and troops began moving in from outskirts after weeks of airstrikes and buildup toward the renewed assault.
The offensive began the same day that independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report “distorted and false.”
One woman, Saud al-Sakani, said her daughter, son-in-law and their children were killed in a strike that flattened their home with about 40 people inside. “An entire family!” she cried, weeping over their bodies at Shifa Hospital’s morgue. “Many are still under the rubble.”
On a brief visit to the region, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that there was a “very short window of time in which a deal can happen” to end the war.
The new assault did not deter another invitation to the U.S for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Tuesday that President Donald Trump invited him to the White House on Sept. 29, after the Israeli leader addresses the United Nations General Assembly. It will mark Netanyahu’s fourth visit since Trump took office in January.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Meanwhile, a missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen set off rocket sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Israeli military said it was working to intercept the projectile, which was fired after Israel carried out airstrikes on the rebel-held port city of Hodeida in Yemen.
The Houthis have regularly fired drones and missiles at Israel in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians. The vast majority have been intercepted or landed in open areas without causing casualties or damage. Israel has carried out waves of retaliatory strikes on Yemen.
Israeli military believes there are still 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the group. Hamas’ military capabilities have been vastly diminished. It now mainly carries out guerrilla-style attacks, with small groups of fighters planting explosives or attacking military outposts before melting away.
An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the Gaza City region before warnings to evacuate began ahead of the offensive, and the Israeli military estimates 350,000 people have left the city.
A U.N. estimate on Monday said that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month. But hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.
By the end of the current operation, an Israeli military graphic suggested its troops hope to control all of the Gaza Strip except for a large swath along the coast.
Clear it all out and burn it to the ground.
Palestinians are displaced to begin with.
They are NOT from Israel. They are rejects from other “Arab” countries.
Don’t come here. We’re not supposed to be the world’s garbage dump.
Wow that city 🏙️ looks like
Old Testament-style destruction
I don’t know how anyone could
survive with Hamas and other
Islamic factions in power
Remember when Terrorist
Yasser Arafat was having
people hanged in the streets
for informing the Israelis?
The Gazans were warned ahead of time and allowed to leave. Were these muslims weeping for the Israeli familes wiped out on October 7th? Those Jewish families had no warning, were not allowed to leave, but were slaughtered or taken captive.
Shed no tears for muslim residents of Gaza City, they are evil and brought death upon themselves. I hope the IDF kills them all.
Brother Dave Hunt (now with the Lord)
noted that Kuwait deported 300,000
Palestinians decades ago and no one
got all excited about that event...
How could they have lived there in the first place? That place looks worse than a Mad Max movie set.
Gazians...... Just sayin’!
That’s the truth.
Voting has consequences.
The UN can stuff it.
These folks look like real refugees, not the almost idyllic life they lived prior to October 7th. I wonder what they think of Hamas now?
There’s an excellent map at the article link.
Gazans still have vehicles to drive? And fuel to put in them???
Pure theater.
Israel informed the locals two months ago to move out.
“Palestinians” are famous for being thrown out of several countries in the arab world for fomenting violence against their host countries governments. In addition to Kuwait, they were thrown out of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
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