Israeli forces advanced deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, escalating their ground offensive as thousands of Palestinians fled the war-torn region. The Israeli military reported over 150 strikes by air force and artillery units in recent days, targeting high-rise towers and densely populated areas that have become shelters for displaced families. While Israel claims these towers were being used by Hamas to monitor troops, the devastation has triggered widespread international condemnation, with hospitals reporting dozens of civilian deaths overnight, including children and women.

Hospitals across central and northern Gaza are overwhelmed as casualties continue to rise. Strikes have hit residential apartments, refugee camps, and even hospitals, forcing patients, including children and premature babies, to evacuate. The Gaza Health Ministry stated that Rantisi Children’s Hospital was partially evacuated after its roof and water tanks were damaged. Aid organizations have condemned the offensive, labeling it a humanitarian catastrophe. A coalition of NGOs, including Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council, urged world leaders to take decisive action, echoing the UN Commission of Inquiry’s recent declaration of Israel’s military actions as genocide.

Meanwhile, Qatar and other regional powers strongly criticized the operation, calling it an extension of what they described as a “war of genocide.” With famine worsening in Gaza City and communications cut off in the north, hundreds of thousands remain trapped in dire conditions. Despite repeated large-scale raids in the past, Israel now vows to capture the entire city, estimating that 2,000–3,000 Hamas militants remain. As the death toll nears 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023, half of them reportedly women and children, the Gaza crisis is fast becoming one of the gravest humanitarian emergencies in modern history.