Israel says it now controls 40% of Gaza City and warns that the offensive will intensify in the coming days.

BarcelonaThe Israeli army reported Thursday that it now controls 40% of Gaza City, after launching a ground offensive on August 10 in the capital of the Palestinian enclave, with constant bombardments that have left hundreds dead and thousands homeless. "The operation will continue to expand and intensify in the coming days," military spokesperson Effie Defrin warned in a video message. Among the neighborhoods claimed to be under Israeli control are Zeitoun and Sheikh Radwan, and Israeli troops are just a few kilometers from the city center.

Israel declared Gaza City, in the north of the Strip, a combat zone last week. Some parts of the city are already considered "red zones," where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate.

An Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza City explained that most people are forced to move continuously within the capital itself. "They move from one area to another that is less dangerous, but still within range of Israeli military fire, airstrikes, and bombing," he explains. He adds: "Instead of issuing large-scale forced displacement orders, the heavy bombardment, with heavy artillery, airstrikes, and drone attacks, is forcing people to move so that their neighborhoods are being erased." He gives the example of the people who moved to the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood hoping it would be a safer area, even though it was bombed on Wednesday: "They have been forced to move once again, just a week after they did so the first time."

At least 75 Palestinians were killed today in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, 44 of whom were in the capital, Al Jazeera reported, citing hospital sources. Of the total number of fatalities, at least 14 were killed while trying to obtain humanitarian aid, a pattern that continues to repeat itself since the Israeli government took over the distribution of basic aid. the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), controlled by Israel and the United States.

"This time I won't leave my house, I want to die here. Tens of thousands of people who left their homes have been killed by Israel, so why worry?" Um Nader, who lives in Gaza City, told Reuters. Residents said Israel bombed the districts of Zeitoun, Sabra, Tuffah, and Shejaia from the ground and air. Tanks entered the eastern part of Sheikh Radwan, northwest of the city center, destroying homes and setting fires in tent encampments.

"Even if the Israeli occupation issues warnings, there are no places that can accommodate civilians; there are no alternative places for people to go," Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the civil emergency service, also told Reuters.

Much of Gaza City was devastated during the first weeks of the war, between October and November 2023. Before the war, approximately one million people lived there, and hundreds of thousands are believed to have returned, especially since Israel ordered the expulsion of the population from other areas and.