JERUSALEM (AP) – After a heavy airstrike, Israeli forces announced Tuesday that they had expanded their expanded operations in Gaza City to “destroy Hamas military infrastructure” and warned residents to move south.
Israeli Arabic spokesman Avichey Adrie has announced the expansion of Israeli operations at X after a night of intense strikes against North Gaza, which killed at least 20 people.
Israel has warned residents of Gaza, who have been hit by starvation, to evacuate ahead of the operation for the past month, but many have said they cannot evacuate south of Gaza due to overcrowding and transportation prices.
Earlier that day, Defense Minister Israel Katz said “Gaza is on fire.” Marco Rubio He left Israel for Qatar, where he planned to meet with officials still there. Last week, an Israeli strike killed five Hamas members And local security officers.
Arab and Islamic countries condemned strikes At Monday’s summit, they halted major actions targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically squeezing changes in Israeli conduct in the Israel-Hamas War.
Rubio spoke to the journalists before he left, suggesting that the attack on Gaza city had begun.
“I think there’s a very short time when a transaction can happen,” Rubio said. “We haven’t had months anymore. We probably have days and weeks, so it’s a key moment. It’s a key moment.”
“Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this ends with a negotiated settlement,” he added, acknowledging that a dangerously intense military campaign has been brought to Gaza.
“What’s worse than war is something that lasts forever and lasts forever,” Rubio said. “At some point, this has to be over. At some point, Hamas has to be disgusted, and I hope that it will happen through negotiations. But unfortunately, I think time is running out.”
The strength of strikes in Gaza city grows
After weeks of threatening the expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza, Katz indicated that it had begun.
“Gaza is on fire,” he said early Tuesday morning. “The (Israel army) are surprised with iron fist in the terrorist infrastructure, and soldiers are fighting heroically to create conditions for hostage release and Hamas’ defeat. We are not merciless.
The United Nations estimated that more than 220,000 Palestinians have fled North Gaza for the past month after Israeli forces warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians lived in the area around Gaza city before the evacuation warning.
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza city
Palestinian residents reported a large number of strikes across Gaza city on Tuesday morning.
Evacuated Palestinians will flee North Gaza on foot and on vehicle, carrying their belongings along the coastal road towards Gaza on Monday, September 15, 2025.
City’s Shifa Hospital said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that raided multiple homes in the western district.
“It’s a very tough night in Gaza,” Shifa Hospital director Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya told The Associated Press.
“The bombing didn’t stop for a moment,” he said. “Under the tile rub, there is still a body.”
Israeli forces did not respond to immediate requests for comments on the strike, but in the past they accused Hamas of building military infrastructure, particularly within the civilian regions of Gaza.
Hostage family asks Netanyahu to stop the surgery
Overnight, families with hostage families still being held in Gaza gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence and begged to stop the city of Gaza.
Throwing several tents, he slept outside his house in protest.
“I have one interest in me: to wake up the country, bring the children back together with the 47 dead hostages and bring soldiers home,” cried Einav Zangarkar, whose son Mathan is being held in Gaza.
“If he lets nothing stop and fight our precious, brave, heroic soldiers while our hostages are used as human shields, he is not a worthy prime minister,” Zangerker said.
Israel believes that about 20 of the 48 hostages still held by Gaza militants, including Matan, are alive.
Both Netanyahu and Rubio said on Monday the only way to end the Gaza conflict is to end Hamas’ exclusion and release of hostages, calling for a temporary ceasefire in favor of an immediate end to the conflict.
Hamas said that in return for Palestinian prisoners, a permanent ceasefire and Israelis withdrawing from Gaza, they would only release the remaining hostages.
Israeli military flares float on Monday, September 15, 2025 on Israeli ground and over buildings destroyed during air operations in the Northern Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and acquiring 251 people. Most of the hostages were later released in ceasefires, which have been partially mediated by Qatar and other deals.
Israeli retaliatory attacks have killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The ministry, part of Hamas-run government and with medical professionals located, says women and children account for about half of the deaths.
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Gambrel reported from Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, while Maggidi reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Munich, Germany contributed to this report.
