Israel advances plan to seize Gaza City, kills 72 in ‘fierce’ attacks

Aug 21, 2025 News

…Hamas calls for global strike today

Israel advances plan to seize Gaza City, kills 72 in ‘fierce’ attacks

Palestinians watch as a rocket fired by an Israeli warplane targets a building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip [Bashar Taleb/AFP]

(AL-JAZEERA) Israel forces have intensified their assault on Gaza City as they prepare to seize the city and forcibly displace nearly one million people, with residential neighbourhoods coming under some of the “fiercest” Israeli attacks on the strip in recent weeks, according to sources on the ground.

At least 72 Palestinians, including 27 aid seekers, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Wednesday, and three more people have starved to death in the strip, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

In one of the latest reported attacks, medical sources say 12 people were killed when Israeli forces targeted cargo security personnel and aid seekers near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza.

Relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza have condemned the Israeli Defence Ministry’s approval of a plan to seize Gaza City and accused the government of ignoring a ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas, saying it was “a stab in the heart of the families and the public in Israel”.

There has been a clear intensification of attacks in both areas of Gaza City – Zeitoun and Jabalia in the north – where the Israeli military is operating aggressively.

That includes ongoing explosions from systematic demolitions of homes. This is a very effective strategy by the Israeli military, which funnels down into one main goal: emptying the Gaza Strip of its population by depriving people from having something as basic as a home.

By destroying these residential buildings and public facilities, all means of life are being taken away from people here.

More people are now receiving phone calls from the Israeli military warning them not to be in areas where they’ve lived all their lives and threatening them that they’re going to be in the line of fire if they stay in these areas – asking them to leave as soon as possible, giving them just a little window of time.

People are leaving behind their belongings, their food supplies that they managed to get in the past few weeks.

Israel is calling up 60,000 reservists for its planned occupation of Gaza City amid widespread dissatisfaction among the Israeli public for the government’s plans for the war, Yossi Mekelberg, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, has told Al Jazeera.

Public frustration with the Netanyahu cabinet’s plans to seize Gaza City was clear to see when hundreds of thousands of Israelis turned out for mass demonstrations on Sunday, he said, adding that “the alternative of reaching an agreement that sees the end of this war, working for a future without constant war is their preference.

“Feelings and emotions are running high, because the Israeli people, at least 70 percent of them, know that Prime Minister Netanyahu is doing that not for the security of Israel. He’s doing that for complete ulterior motives of staying in power,” he said.

Mekelberg said the Israeli government appeared to be calling up greater numbers of reservists than required operationally for the mission to take Gaza City, “on the assumption that about 60 percent will show up”.

This was in contrast to the early days of the war, when overwhelming numbers showed up to serve, he said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian group, Hamas is urging people around the world, including those in Arab and Muslim countries, to take part in the strike on Thursday to show support for people in Gaza.

“The occupation army’s plans to occupy Gaza, and the resulting aggression and displacement of more than one million people, represent a new chapter in the war of extermination,” Hamas said in a statement shared on Telegram.

“We warn against the international silence regarding the occupation’s crimes and urge the world to take urgent action to stop the massacres and starvation, and to end the aggression and siege.”

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