Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Oct. 12, 2023 as raging battles between Israel and the Hamas movement continue for the sixth consecutive day. (Credit: Ibrahim Hams/AFP)
The Israeli military has surrounded Gaza City, cutting the besieged enclave into a northern and southern half, as they prepare to launch a ground attack into the sprawling urban environment, the Israeli military stated.
Israel is expected to enter the city, the largest in Gaza, soon despite concerns that the close-quarters fighting will result in countless more civilians killed as Israel seeks to remove Hamas from Gaza. International and local demands for a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause have largely been ignored by the Israeli government.
"We’re closing in on them," Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said. "We’ve completed our encirclement, separating Hamas strongholds in the north from the south."
In the lead-up to the ground invasion of the city, Israel has continued its aerial bombardment with one bomb hitting the roof of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, killing several displaced people who had been sheltering in the hospital.
Several hundred thousand people are believed to still be in the pathway of Israel's military as many of them are too afraid to leave – especially as Israel has blocked off the roads leading in and out of the area outside of a single exit route that is occupied by the Israeli military – as Israel continues to bomb southern Gaza or they have nowhere else to go.
Over 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed so far since the start of the war on Oct. 7.