CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israel told residents of Gaza City to leave immediately after warning that it would step up airstrikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip in a "mighty hurricane" if Hamas does not free the last hostages it is holding and surrender.
In what it called a final warning on Monday, Israel's military told the Palestinian militant group that Gaza would be destroyed if it did not disarm and release 48 hostages seized in the 2023 attacks on Israel.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, "I say to the residents of Gaza (City): you have been warned - get out of there!". He added that Israel had in recent days knocked down 50 "terror towers" in a prelude to an upcoming "ground operation.
Residents said Israeli forces had bombed Gaza City from the air and blown up old armoured vehicles in its streets. Hamas was meanwhile studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday with a warning from President Trump that it was the militant group's "last chance". "A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake," Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said. "This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons - or Gaza will be destroyed, and you'll be annihilated."
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bombed a 12-floor block in the middle of Gaza City where dozens of displaced families had been housed, three hours after urging those inside and in hundreds of tents in the surrounding area to leave.
According to an official, the latest US proposal calls for Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire.
Hamas has long said it intends to hold onto at least some hostages until negotiations with Israel are complete. It said in a statement it was committed to releasing them all with a "clear announcement of an end to the war" and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The Israeli military said that four soldiers had been killed on Monday. Among 25 Palestinians reported killed on Monday was Osama Balousha, a scribe, medics said. Reuters