The Israeli army says its offensive to occupy Gaza City has begun, as hospitals there struggle with the surge of dead and wounded from the attacks.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We report on the Israeli military’s move into Gaza City. The ground offensive – it’s intended to occupy a city that Israel has attacked and raided but not tried to permanently hold until now. Local hospitals say Israeli strikes have killed at least 100 Palestinians over the past day, many of them children. Some residents fled the city before the operation, but many remain. We will hear the sounds of war in this report from NPR’s Aya Batrawy in Dubai.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Gaza City is being pounded by Israeli warplanes as tens of thousands of ground troops make a push for its center. The military’s raided the city throughout much of the past nearly two years of war, but this time, it’s aiming to displace all of its residents and keep troops there indefinitely. The military has been impeding food and aid into the city. It estimates thousands of Hamas fighters are there, setting the stage for a high death toll among all who stay.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER GUNFIRE)
BATRAWY: Israel’s defense minister says, quote, “Gaza is burning.” NPR recorded the sound of helicopter gunfire and artillery shelling in the city.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARTILLERY SHELLING)
BATRAWY: Israel’s military says about a third of the city’s residents have fled south in recent days, where the U.N. says conditions are overcrowded and inhumane. But hundreds of thousands remain. The military has placed the entire city under evacuation order. Yet even those fleeing are not safe.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
BATRAWY: In video captured by a bystander and verified by NPR, a distraught, bloodied toddler stands by a car that’s on fire. A woman is bleeding out on the street as someone carries the lifeless body of a boy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Shouting in non-English language).
BATRAWY: The car had been hauling mattresses and the belongings of a family trying to leave Gaza City. The health ministry says five people, including children, were killed in this Israeli attack Monday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to our request for comment. Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin said in a video message, the Gaza City offensive has two objectives.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EFFIE DEFRIN: Our forces are acting with determination, guided by the clear moral duty to free our hostages and end Hamas’ rule of terror.
BATRAWY: Families and supporters of Israeli hostages protested outside the Israeli prime minister’s home in Jerusalem.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
BATRAWY: They fear this offensive endangers the 20 hostages believed to be alive. They’re demanding a ceasefire.
Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai, with Anas Baba in Gaza City.
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