Israel Conducts Extensive Destruction in Gaza City, 51 Killed

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International Desk: Israel has carried out intense airstrikes on Gaza City, the largest urban center in the blockaded Gaza Strip of Palestine, killing 51 people in the past 24 hours.

According to a report published on Tuesday (16 September) by Al Jazeera, Israel launched massive bombings on Gaza City on Monday evening, demolishing the tallest residential structure in the area, the Al-Ghafri High-Rise. The devastating assault has forced hundreds of thousands of residents to flee the city.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has accused Israel of using unconventional weapons to forcibly displace Palestinians.

Channel 12, an Israeli media outlet, reported “unusually intense attacks” on the northern and western parts of Gaza City.

The Palestinian Civil Defense stated that in recent weeks, at least 50 multi-story buildings have been completely destroyed by Israeli forces. Other parts of the city have also been reduced to rubble; in the Zaytoun neighborhood alone, over 1,500 homes have been destroyed since early August.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz shared videos of the strikes on social media for the third consecutive day, writing that “the towers of terror have collapsed into the sea,” although he provided no evidence that the destroyed buildings were being used by Hamas.

Throughout the 23-month-long war, residential areas, schools, and hospitals have repeatedly been targeted. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 51 people were killed in Gaza City alone in the past 24 hours, including six-year-old twin children.

Additionally, three journalists were killed in separate strikes. They were identified as reporter Mohammad al-Kwaifi in Nasr, photojournalist and broadcast engineer Ayman Haniyeh, and journalist Iman al-Jamili.

This brings the total number of journalists and media workers killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza to nearly 280, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists, according to international organizations.

Since October 2023, at least 64,905 Palestinians have been killed and 164,926 others injured in Israeli assaults. Countless bodies are still believed to be buried under the rubble.