Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza City

The Israeli army has launched a ground offensive to take control of Gaza City, the capital of the Palestinian enclave, despite the fact that more than half a million people remain in the city. After a night of constant and intense bombardment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday announced the start of an “intensive operation” in the city. Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that “Gaza is burning” and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “is striking the terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist to create the conditions necessary for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

An Israeli military source confirmed the “move to the main phase” of the offensive on the city, where hundreds of thousands of people remain. The IDF, he said, has mobilized two divisions, which “will be joined by others later” and will carry out a “combined and gradual” movement of troops. The offensive has been launched despite the fact that, after two years of continuous forced displacement and with no safe place now left to flee to, most of the one million people who were estimated to be living in the capital remain there. The IDF estimates that only between 300,000 and 400,000 have evacuated, amid bombardments and exorbitant prices for transport out of the city by car or donkey.

Earlier, the Israeli army’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued a statement to the same effect, assuring that troops “have begun dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza City.” “Gaza City is considered a dangerous combat zone, staying in the area puts you at risk,” he warned the population in a tweet, in which he also pointed out that only around 40% of the population has fled the city.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also confirmed that Israel has begun “operations” in the city, warning Hamas that there is very little time left to reach a ceasefire agreement. Now in Qatar, Rubio said “we don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks” left to reach a possible ceasefire. Rubio placed all the responsibility on Hamas: “The Israelis have begun to take operations there [...] Our preference, our number-one choice, is that this ends through a negotiated settlement where Hamas says, ‘We’re going to demilitarize, we’re no longer going to pose a threat, we’re going to disband, we’re going to release every single hostage,’” he said.

Meanwhile, a UN commission has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli government has dismissed the report published Tuesday by an Independent International Commission of Inquiry that says “Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza,” as “false,” claiming that it is based on “Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.”

According to a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, those who drafted the report are “Hamas proxies” and are “known for their openly antisemitic positions.”

The independent UN commission found that Israel’s current offensive in the enclave, after two years of a conflict that has caused nearly 65,000 deaths, is aimed at “destroying the Palestinians in the Strip as a group.” The experts found that Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “incited the commission of genocide.”

Israeli authorities, for their part, have repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide and have invoked the right to self-defense and the right to guarantee the security of their territory, insisting that their attacks are directed against “terrorist targets” linked to Hamas.

UN experts analyzed the events following the Hamas massacre in Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, and accuse Israel of “killing, causing serious physical or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the total or partial destruction of the Palestinian people, and imposing measures to prevent births.” These are four of the five criteria included in the definition of genocide contained in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. However, the commission finds no evidence that meets the fifth criterion; the forcible transfer of children.

The 72-page report prepared by the commission, established in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council, investigates information related to Israeli army attacks in the Strip up to July 31 of this year. The list of human rights violations is long: from the murder and serious injuries caused to “an unprecedented number” of civilians through the use of heavy ammunition in densely populated areas to the imposition of a total siege that has caused famine; the systematic destruction of health and education systems; sexual and gender-based violence; direct attacks against children, including in aid distribution areas, in refugee camps, or on evacuation routes; attacks against religious and cultural sites; forced displacement; destruction of homes; and bombings during truces. “Genocidal intent was the only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the totality of the evidence,” the report emphasizes.

Netanyahu accused of inciting genocide

The document also analyzes statements made by Israeli authorities during the same period and concludes that they “constitute direct evidence of genocidal intent.” The experts point the finger directly at Herzog, Netanyahu, and Gallant — who was dismissed last November — considering that they “incited the commission of genocide.” “Israeli political and military leaders are agents of the State of Israel. Their actions are attributable to the State of Israel. Therefore, Israel as a State is responsible for the commission of genocide, for failing to prevent it, and for failing to punish it,” the UN experts conclude.

The report’s authors demand that Israel implement a permanent ceasefire, lift the blockade, and guarantee unhindered access to the enclave for large-scale humanitarian aid and UN personnel. They also urge Israel to immediately cease the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private aid distribution organization operating outside the UN, with opaque funding but sponsored by Israel and the United States.

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