The Israeli army claims that the first stages of assault on the city of Gaza began

The Israeli army says that it began the “preliminary actions” of an offensive on the ground provided to capture and occupy the entire city of Gaza and already has a grip on its periphery.

A military spokesman said that the troops are already operating in the regions of Zeitoun and Jabalia to lay the foundations of the offensive, which the Minister of Defense Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and who will be placed in the security firm later this week.

About 60,000 reservists are called for the beginning of September to free up active service staff for the operation.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza City should be ordered to evacuate and head towards shelters in the south of Gaza.

Many allies of Israel have condemned the plan, the French president Emmanuel Macron warns on Wednesday that she “can only lead to a disaster for peoples and the risks plunging the whole region into a permanent war cycle”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has indicated an additional displacement and an intensification of hostilities “risks aggravating an already catastrophic situation” for the population of 2.1 million Gaza.

The Israeli government has announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect discussions with Hamas on a cease-fire and hostage release contract broke up last month.

Speaking during a television briefing on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Defense Forces of Israel (FDI), General Brigadier, Effie Defrin, said that Hamas had been “beaten and bruised” after 22 months of war.

“We will deepen the damage to Hamas in Gaza City, a bastion of government and military terror for the terrorist organization,” he added. “We will deepen the damage to terrorist infrastructure above and below the ground and break the dependence of the population with regard to Hamas.”

But Defrin said that the FDI “did not wait” to start the operation.

“We have started the preliminary actions, and already now, the TSAhal troops hold the outskirts of Gaza City.”

Two brigades operated on the ground in the district of Zeitoun, where in recent days, they had located an underground tunnel which contained weapons, and a third brigade operated in the region of Jabalia, he added.

In order to “minimize damage to civilians,” he said, the civilian population of Gaza City would be warned to evacuate their safety.

A spokesperson for the civil defense agency led by Gaza, Mahmoud Bassal, said on Tuesday that the situation was “very dangerous and unbearable” in the Zeitoun and Sabra districts of the city.

The agency said that Israeli strikes and fires killed 25 people on the territory on Wednesday. They included three children and their parents, including the home in the BADR district of the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, was bombed, he said.

Defrin also said that the FDIs did everything possible to avoid the prejudices of the 50 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, 20 of which are considered alive. Their families have expressed their fear that those of Gaza City be endangered by an offensive on the ground.

The CICR warned against a catastrophic situation for Palestinian civilians and hostages if military activity in Gaza has intensified.

“After months of implacable hostilities and repeated displacement, the inhabitants of Gaza are completely exhausted. What they need is no more pressure, but relief. No more fear, but a chance to breathe. They must have access to essential elements to live in dignity: food, medical supplies and hygienera, clean water and safe refuge.

“Any new intensification of military operations will only deepen suffering, tear more families and threaten an irreversible humanitarian crisis. The life of hostages can also be endangered,” he added.

He called for an immediate cease-fire and the rapid and without hindrance of humanitarian aid through Gaza.

The mediators of Qatar and Egypt try to conclude a cease-fire contract and presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of about half of the hostages, which Hamas said that it had accepted on Monday.

Israel has not yet submitted an official response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial agreement and demanded a complete that would see all the released hostages.

The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory. The ministry’s figures are cited by the UN and the others as the most reliable source of statistics available on the victims.