Israel pounds Gaza City, killing 49 and displacing 6,000 in a single day

Israeli forces have ramped up attacks on Gaza City, systematically levelling buildings, including schools-turned-shelters run by the United Nations, and killing at least 49 people.

The toll from Gaza City took the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across the Strip on Saturday to 62.

More than 6,000 Palestinians were also displaced in Gaza City by the relentless bombardment, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

“Residents of Gaza City are now living in extremely difficult conditions under the continuous siege and bombardment,” said Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman for the agency.

Israeli forces launched strikes in rapid succession on Gaza City, according to witnesses, in a bid to clear the urban centre for takeover, dropping leaflets warning starving and terrified Palestinians to flee for their lives.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said that Israeli fighter jets were dropping bombs “every 10 to 15 minutes” on residential buildings and public facilities, often failing to give people sufficient time to evacuate to safety.

“The pace and pattern of the attacks suggest one thing: The Israeli army is deliberately putting extreme pressure on places that are densely populated with displaced families,” he said, adding that displaced people were now concentrated in the city’s western flank.

But, he added, even as the military pummels the city, many residents are staying put or even returning after attempting the journey south to the “crammed and under-resourced” camp of al-Mawasi, where Israel has been frequently striking shelters.

Some 900,000 people are still in Gaza City.

Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the head of al-Shifa Hospital, said residents were moving from the east to the west of Gaza City, but “only a small number of people have been able to reach the south”.

“Even those who manage to flee south often find no place to stay, as the al-Mawasi area is completely full and Deir el-Balah is also overcrowded,” said Abu Salmiya, adding that many have returned to Gaza City after failing to find shelter or basic services.

The Israeli army claimed on X that more than 250,000 people had fled the enclave’s largest urban centre.

Reverse displacement

Reporting from the south, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary witnessed a steady stream of families arriving from the north to the al-Mawasi camp, believing that they were going to find “water, hygiene – everything that Israeli forces advertised”.

Three of the Israeli-backed GHF aid distribution sites are located in the al-Mawasi area, as part of Israel’s strategy to lure Palestinians southwards. However, human rights groups and governments have harshly criticised the GHF after more than 850 people were shot in the vicinity of distribution sites, according to UN figures.

Faraj Ashour, a displaced Palestinian who lost his legs in an Israeli attack, told Al Jazeera that he would be sending his 13-year-old son “to his death” if he dispatched him to find food for the family.

Al-Mawasi was already crowded before Israel’s invasion of Gaza City, filled with Palestinians displaced from the eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis. But now, it is at breaking point, with new arrivals unable to find space to pitch their tents.

“I went to al-Mawasi, but the costs were too high… and it was almost impossible to find a proper spot without paying extra,” said Ashour. “We stayed two days. During that time, the tent next to us was bombed, even in what they call a safe zone.”

Having travelled from Gaza City, Ashour is now preparing with his family to move back, as part of an apparent trend of reverse displacement, where desperate people return to the north.

“There was no safety. It’s all lies. At first, I believed them, but I realised it was better to return to Gaza City. If they’re going to kill me, may as well be in Gaza City, rather than risk everything in al-Mawasi,” he said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Saturday that 86 percent of Gaza is either a militarised zone or subjected to displacement threats.

Dozens of Palestinians killed

The bulk of Israel’s attacks on the Strip on Saturday have been focused on Gaza City, where fighter jets bombed three UN schools in the Shati refugee camp that were sheltering displaced Palestinians.

Survivors said the Israeli military gave them little warning.

“We took our things and put them outside; minutes later, they started to bomb the school,” said Fidaa al-Za’aneen. “We left with what we are wearing. Now I’m sitting in a tent and I have nothing for my children, no pillow, no blanket, nothing.”

For the past few weeks, the Israeli military has levelled Gaza City’s high-rise towers one by one, repeatedly claiming the buildings are being used by Hamas, without providing any evidence.

On Saturday, Israeli forces continued to target high-rise towers, with Minister of Defence Israel Katz posting a video purporting to show the Burj al-Nur tower crumbling to the ground.

Three other Israeli air raids also targeted the public prosecution building in Gaza City, while several people were wounded following an Israeli drone attack on an outdoor dining hall in the city, which was used as a charging point for phones, laptops and lights.

Outside Gaza City, at least seven Palestinians were killed while seeking aid in al-Wadi, in the central Gaza Strip, while another was killed in an artillery strike on the Bureij refugee camp. Four more were killed in a strike on a tent sheltering displaced people at Palestine Stadium in central Gaza, according to hospital sources.

In southern Khan Younis, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the al-Amal neighbourhood, while five Palestinians were were wounded in an Israeli drone strike on tents housing displaced people.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the previous 24 hours, raising the toll from starvation to 420, including 145 children, since the start of the war.