Israeli Military Launches Gaza City Operation, Urges Evacuation

The Israel Defense Forces said Gaza City was a combat zone as strikes targeted Hamas infrastructure.

People watch as leaflets dropped by the Israeli military, urging evacuation south to Al-Mawasi, land in Gaza City on Sept. 9, 2025. Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images

The Israeli military said on Sept. 16 that it had launched an operation to destroy Hamas infrastructure in Gaza City and urged residents to evacuate south.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in an X post that Gaza City “is considered a dangerous combat zone” and warned, “Staying in the area puts you in danger.”

The announcement follows the expansion of Israel’s military offensive in the enclave, after Israel approved plans in August to seize control of Gaza City despite international criticism.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X that “Gaza is burning,” adding that the IDF “was striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure.”

“IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back—until the completion of the mission,” Katz said.

The push comes as the United Nations published a report concluding that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide—a claim quickly rejected by Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Israel on Sept. 15 following Israeli strikes that targeted Hamas leaders in Qatar.

At least six people were killed in the strike, including the son of a top Hamas official and four other Hamas members, according to the terrorist group. Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit on Sept. 15. President Donald Trump also expressed disapproval of the strike.

After leaving Israel, Rubio arrived in Qatar for talks with its ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The talks will cover U.S.–Qatar cooperation on regional stability, efforts to end the war in Gaza, and the release of hostages in Gaza, according to the U.S. Embassy in Qatar.

Speaking to journalists en route to Qatar’s capital, Doha, Rubio confirmed that Israel’s offensive in Gaza City had begun.

“The Israelis have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks,” he said.

Rubio added that Washington’s preferred outcome was a negotiated settlement in which Hamas would demilitarize, disband, release all hostages, and cease posing a threat.

The goals have been fundamental for Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which more than 1,200 people were killed, and about 250 people kidnapped.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the attack, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which operates under the control of Hamas. That number does not distinguish between combatants and civilians and includes some deaths from natural causes. The Epoch Times cannot verify the casualty numbers.

Humanitarian Implications

The Israeli military has destroyed high-rise buildings in the city in recent weeks as part of the offensive in the enclave. According to the IDF, Hamas is using the buildings to plant explosives, install intelligence-gathering equipment, and position observation posts.

Israel has designated areas in the southern Gaza Strip, including parts of Khan Younis and Al-Mawasi, as humanitarian safe zones. To warn and reach as many civilians as possible, the IDF said it is using voice messages, leaflets, text messages, and phone calls.

The IDF said that humanitarian infrastructure in southern Gaza has been prepared to accommodate the expected population and to ensure aid delivery.

Israeli officials earlier this month alleged that Hamas has prevented civilians from evacuating Gaza City ahead of the offensive, accusing Hamas of using Gazans as human shields.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said ongoing airstrikes in Gaza City were preventing humanitarian convoys from gaining access and called for safe, unimpeded passage throughout the area.

Genocide Allegations

On Sept. 16, a report by a team of experts commissioned by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a finding that Israel rejected.

In its report, the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said it had found that Israeli authorities and security forces had committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, including killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life aimed at destroying Palestinians in Gaza.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” the commission’s chair, Navi Pillay, said. “The Commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent and punish the commission of genocide, through failure to investigate genocidal acts and to prosecute alleged perpetrators.”

Although the commission and the Human Rights Council cannot take action against states, their findings could be cited in proceedings at the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice.

Daniel Meron, Israel’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva, said the report was “distorted and false” and that the commission had gone beyond its mandate.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry described the panel as biased and said Hamas “is the party that attempted genocide in Israel” during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

“The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others,” the ministry stated, adding that an academic study by Israel’s BESA Center had already refuted genocide allegations.

The commission published a report titled “Detailed findings on attacks carried out on and after 7 October 2023 in Israel” in June 2024.