CAIRO: Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the enclave “fairly quickly.”
An airstrike also killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif, in a tent at the Al Shifa Hospital compound.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families out of their homes westwards. Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Palestinian militant group Hamas is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave’s northern edges.
The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which is not expected to begin in the coming weeks. “It sounded like the war was restarting,” said Amr Salah, 25. “Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
