Israel pounds parts of Gaza City

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories – AFP

Israel pounded parts of Gaza’s biggest city on Thursday, Hamas said, after Israel’s military declared an end to its operation in Shujaiya.

The upsurge in bombardment and displacement followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement in late June that “the war in its intense phase is about to end”.

It also came as talks were held in the Gulf emirate of Qatar towards a truce and prisoner release deal after more than nine months of war.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas said troops had pulled back from Gaza City’s eastern district of Shujaiya leaving behind “more than 300 residential units and more than 100 businesses destroyed.”

Witnesses on Thursday said tanks and troops had moved into other Gaza City areas. Explosions, artillery shelling and gunfire could be heard, they said.

Smoke rose over parts of the city, according to AFP correspondents.

Hamas on Thursday reported 45 air strikes in the Gaza City area, as well as in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Netanyahu had said the intense phase of the war was nearing its conclusion.

– ‘Immense destruction’ –

Israel’s military said on Wednesday it had completed its mission in Shujaiya after two weeks that, AFPTV images show, left the area a grey, blasted-out wasteland.

The images showed Palestinians gathered around a destroyed and burned armoured vehicle beneath a blackened building on a street carpeted with rubble.

Standing nearby, Mohammed Nairi said he and other residents returned to “immense destruction that defies description. All the houses were demolished.”

Another displaced resident, a can of food tucked under her arm, said the district “lies in ruins.”

– ‘Dangerous combat zone’ –

The health ministry said six bodies had been recovered after the pullback of Israeli troops from Shujaiya.

On Wednesday the army dropped leaflets warning “everyone in Gaza City” that the area would “remain a dangerous combat zone”. The leaflets urged residents to flee, and set out designated escape routes from the area where UN humanitarian agency OCHA said up to 350,000 people were staying.

The United Nations said the latest evacuations “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced many times”, and who face “critical levels of need”.

Hamas official Hossam Badran, asked about the increased military operations, told AFP that Israel was “hoping that the resistance will relinquish its legitimate demands” in truce negotiations.

But “the continuation of massacres compels us to adhere to our demands”, he said.