The Gaza City crisis has reached a breaking point as Israeli tanks and troops push deeper into the city, prompting the UN to call the situation “nothing short of cataclysmic.”
Olga Cherevko, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian office, reported witnessing a constant stream of Palestinians fleeing south, while hundreds of thousands remain trapped. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that hospitals are on the brink of collapse as lifesaving aid is blocked.
Ground Offensive Intensifies
The Israeli military says its forces are “dismantling terror infrastructure and eliminating terrorists” in Gaza City as part of its campaign to rescue hostages and defeat what it estimates to be 3,000 Hamas fighters.
Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, urged troops to “intensify the blows against Hamas and decisively defeat the Gaza City brigade.”
Witnesses reported Israeli tanks advancing into Sheikh Radwan and Tal al-Hawa neighborhoods, blowing up remotely driven vehicles and destroying multiple houses.
Humanitarian Crisis Worsens
The Gaza City crisis has forced at least 200,000 Palestinians to flee south since mid-August, according to the UN, with 55,000 displaced since Sunday alone.
Cherevko described seeing civilians walking on foot, many carrying only mattresses or plastic bags. “It’s very crowded still because hundreds of thousands of civilians remain there,” she said, adding that she personally witnessed several Israeli airstrikes near the UN convoy.
Many of those who reach Deir al-Balah or Khan Younis find no shelter waiting for them. “I met a family who had been walking around for four days, trying to find space to sleep and they didn’t manage,” Cherevko recalled.
Hospitals on the Brink
The WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the offensive is “forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity.”
With only 1,790 hospital beds available for Gaza’s 2.1 million residents, occupancy rates are running between 180% and 300%. Al-Rantisi children’s hospital, Gaza’s last remaining paediatric facility, was struck three times this week, damaging critical infrastructure.
Forty patients were evacuated, but 40 others — including children in intensive care and newborns — remain inside.
International Reaction and Warnings
The offensive has drawn widespread international criticism, as famine was officially declared in Gaza City just last month. The UN Population Fund warned that women are being forced to give birth in the streets without medical support.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 65,141 people have been killed since the war began in October 2023, with another 435 deaths attributed to malnutrition and starvation.
Source: BBC News
