Sun Aug 31 20:31:24 UTC 2025: **Gaza City Devastated as Israeli Offensive Intensifies, Residents Refuse to Leave**
Gaza City, formerly home to 700,000 people, is facing intensified destruction as Israeli forces escalate their offensive. Reports indicate widespread destruction, including the use of “explosive robots” in residential areas, according to Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Government Media Office. He accuses the Israeli army of deploying more than 80 such devices in civilian neighborhoods over the past three weeks, calling it a “scorched-earth policy.”
Palestinian Civil Defence reported a fire in tents near al-Quds Hospital after Israeli shelling, with at least five people killed and three wounded when a residential apartment was hit near the Remal neighbourhood.
Despite warnings and the declaration of a “combat zone,” many residents are choosing to stay. “We are tired from the first displacement. Where are we going to go? Is there a place in the south? We cannot find it,” said Fedaa Hamad, displaced from Beit Hanoon. Akram Mzini, a resident of Gaza City, echoed similar sentiments, citing the difficulty and costliness of displacement.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, described parts of the city as being turned into “fields of rubble” due to relentless Israeli attacks. He noted the systematic demolition of homes in areas like Zeitoun and Jabalia, with heavy artillery and bulldozers moving from street to street, destroying residential clusters.
The ongoing conflict has also claimed the lives of journalists, with Islam Abed of Al-Quds Al-Youm TV channel being killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City. The Government Media Office reports the number of martyred journalists has risen to 247 since the war began.
Meanwhile, the armed wing of Hamas said its fighters successfully attacked two invading Israeli military vehicles in Gaza City on Saturday.
As global condemnation grows, the Global Sumud Flotilla has set sail from Barcelona in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade and deliver aid to the besieged territory. However, experts caution that the flotilla is unlikely to solve the famine in Gaza, calling for governments to intervene and stop the “genocide and deliberate starvation programmes.”
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