'Gaza is burning', says Israel as it launches huge ground assault

Jerusalem/Cairo: Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City on Tuesday, declaring "Gaza is burning" as Palestinians there described the most intense bombardment they had faced in two years of war.

An Israel Defence Forces official said ground troops were moving deeper into the enclave's main city, and that the number of soldiers would rise in coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believes are still in the city.

"Gaza is burning," Defence Minister Israel Katz posted on X. "The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas."

In launching the assault, Israel's government defied European leaders threatening sanctions, and warnings from even some of Israel's own military commanders that it could be a costly mistake. But Washington offered its apparent blessing, conveyed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In the latest expression of international alarm, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, incited by top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel called the assessment "scandalous" and "fake".

Bodies trapped under rubble, thousands flee

Gaza health officials reported at least 40 people killed, most in Gaza City, in the assault's early hours on Tuesday, as air strikes swept across the city and tanks advanced.

Where a missile had destroyed two multi-storey residential buildings in the middle of the night, people clambered over an immense mound of dislocated concrete to pry out victims, footage obtained by Reuters showed. A woman cried as a small child's body was pulled from the wreckage, hastily wrapped in a green blanket and carried away.

Abu Mohammed Hamed said several of his relatives had been injured or killed, including a cousin whose body was trapped by a concrete block: "We don't know how to take her out. We have been working on it since 3 a.m."

Israel renewed its calls on civilians to leave, and long columns of Palestinians streamed towards the south and west in donkey carts, rickshaws, heavily laden vehicles or on foot.

"They are destroying residential towers, the pillars of the city, mosques, schools and roads," Abu Tamer, a 70-year-old man making the gruelling journey south with his family, told Reuters in a text message.

"They are wiping out our memories."

US offers support, EU plans new sanctions

Hours before the escalation, Rubio offered U.S. backing at a press conference alongside Netanyahu. While the United States wished for a diplomatic end to the war, "we have to be prepared for the possibility that's not going to happen", he said.

But other longstanding allies have recoiled at what they see as disproportionate harm to civilians. In Brussels, a spokesperson for the EU executive said it would agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel, including suspending certain trade provisions.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the assault "reckless and appalling" and called for an immediate ceasefire. Britain and France are expected this month to become the first major Western powers to recognise Palestinian independence.

The area of Tel Al-Hawa, in the southwest of Gaza City, was being pounded by strikes from air, ground and sea, according to witnesses reached by Reuters via text message.

They said the IDF was using robots loaded with explosives, and that powerful blasts were sending debris and shrapnel hundreds of metres from impact sites.

Some won't flee: 'It's like escaping towards death'

Some residents were staying put, too poor to secure a tent and transport or because there was nowhere safe to go.

"It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving," said Um Mohammad, a woman living in the suburb of Sabra, under aerial and ground fire for days.

Both Hamas and the IDF estimate around 350,000 people have fled Gaza City so far, with close to twice as many still left behind.

Much of Gaza City was laid to waste in the early weeks of the war in 2023, but around 1 million Palestinians had returned there to homes among the ruins. Forcing them out means nearly the entire population of Gaza will now be confined to encampments along the coast further south.

The UN, aid groups and numerous foreign countries have denounced Israel's tactics as a mass forced displacement, without adequate food, medical care, space and basic hygiene.

Three more Palestinians died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said on Tuesday, raising total hunger deaths to at least 428, most in the last two months, in what a global monitor calls a man-made famine. Israel says the extent of hunger has been exaggerated.

Some Israeli military commanders have expressed concern that the Gaza City assault could endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas or be a "death trap" for troops.

Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, at a meeting Netanyahu convened late on Sunday with security chiefs, urged the prime minister to pursue a ceasefire deal, according to three Israeli officials, two of whom were in the meeting and one of whom was briefed on its details.

Families of hostages, who have led calls for a ceasefire, gathered outside Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem late on Monday as news of the offensive streamed in.

"Our loved ones in Gaza are being bombarded by the IDF under the orders of the prime minister," said Anat Angrest, whose son Matan is among the 20 hostages believed to still be alive.

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show. Israel's military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says.