{"id":18782,"date":"2025-09-16T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=18782"},"modified":"2025-09-16T11:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:11:20","slug":"the-pummeling-of-gaza-and-israeli-ground-offensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/the-pummeling-of-gaza-and-israeli-ground-offensive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pummeling of Gaza and Israeli Ground Offensive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes Tuesday across Gaza City as\u00a0Israel\u2019s defense minister said that \u201cGaza is burning,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in remarks that came as a new Israeli ground offensive targeted the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said that the \u201cmain phase\u201d of the Gaza City operation had begun, with troops moving in from the city\u2019s outskirts toward its center.\"APTOPIX<\/p>\n\n\n\n

APTOPIX Israel Palestinians Gaza\u00a9 Abdel Kareem Hana<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for some time in the leadup to the operation, knocking down towers in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli strikes in Gaza City overnight and into Tuesday killed at least 34 Palestinians, according to the Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a heavy night,\u201d said Radwan Hayder, a Gaza City resident sheltering near the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the latest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Council holds debate on Israeli attack in Qatar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. Human Rights Council is holding a debate in which a string of countries are denouncing last week\u2019s Israeli strike in Doha that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar\u2019s minister of state for international cooperation, Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, told delegates in Geneva on Tuesday that the attack \u201cconstitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law by targeting a purely civilian area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that \u201ctargeting the mediating state is targeting the principle of negotiation itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council\u2019s president said Israel\u2019s delegation wasn\u2019t in the room as it heard statements from the countries concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli Ambassador Daniel Meron told reporters before the debate that the council has been \u201cserving as a platform for anti-Israel propaganda while ignoring the brutal realities on the ground and the atrocities committed by Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tens of thousands try to leave northern Gaza<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long lines of traffic stretched down the coastal road on Tuesday as tens of thousands of Palestinians attempted to leave northern Gaza after Israel said it had begun its ground operation in Gaza City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vehicles laden with belongings, with mattresses strapped to every available surface, crawled along the road while others made their way on foot down the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.N. estimates some 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza, including more than 70,000 in the past few days, ahead of the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 1 million Palestinians were in the Gaza City region before the most recent operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio leaves Qatar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marco Rubio has boarded his plane to leave Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. secretary of state said goodbye to Qatari and U.S. officials on the tarmac before climbing the stairs to his airplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He turned back, waved, gave a thumbs up and then put his hand over his heart before boarding the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El-Sissi calls Israel \u2018an enemy\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi described Israel as \u201can enemy\u201d in a fiery speech at the Qatar summit Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first time an Egyptian leader used the term since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, said Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEgypt is being threatened,\u201d Rashwan told the state-run Extra News television late Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El-Sissi\u2019s \u201cenemy\u201d comment played prominently across Egyptian newspapers\u2019 front pages on Tuesday and while Cairo has taken no steps to change its status with Israel, the Egyptian government likely is trying to signal just how seriously it takes Israel\u2019s recent actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio meets Qatar’s emir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marco Rubio met Tuesday with Qatar\u2019s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio shook hands with both Sheikh Tamim and Qatar\u2019s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, before starting the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights experts accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations\u2019 Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, in a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deeply-documented findings by the three-member team are the latest accusations<\/a> of genocide against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government by rights advocates<\/a> as Israeli carries on with its war against Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel rejected what it called a \u201cdistorted and false\u201d report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While neither the commission nor the 47-member-country council that it works for within the U.N. system can take action against a country, the findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or the U.N.\u2019s International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team was commissioned by the Human Rights Council, the U.N.\u2019s top human rights body, but it does not speak for the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel says expanded military operation in Gaza City has begun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli military announced Tuesday that its expanded operation in Gaza City \u201cto destroy Hamas\u2019 military infrastructure\u201d has begun and warned residents to move south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced the expansion of Israel\u2019s operation on X, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has been warning the famine-stricken Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month ahead of the operation but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in Gaza\u2019s south and the high price of transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio arrives in Qatar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Marco Rubio arrived Tuesday in Qatar for a visit after Israel attacked Hamas leaders there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio\u2019s plane landed Tuesday morning in Doha, where he was expected to meet with the country\u2019s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qatar hosted a summit Monday that saw Arab and Islamic countries denounce Israel over the attack last week<\/a> that killed six people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But leaders offered different views about what to do, and the group agreed to take only minimal action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain summons Israeli diplomat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Spain summoned Israel\u2019s acting ambassador in Madrid Tuesday for the second time in less than a week over comments made the day before by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar toward Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, S\u00e1nchez called for Israel to be banned from international sporting events over its actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saar responded on X by calling the Spanish leader an \u201cantisemite and a liar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain has been an outspoken critic of Israel\u2019s military offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters in Madrid<\/a> disrupted the final leg of a top cycling event because an Israeli team was taking part, which caused the race\u2019s finale to be cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli strike kills at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza City, hospital says<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shifa Hospital in Gaza City received the bodies of 12 people who were killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in the western part of the city, said Dr. Rami Mhanna, managing director of the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told The Associated Press that more than 90 injured also arrived at the facility in the past six hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said first responders reported that many casualties are still under the rubble in multiple areas, and that the death toll is likely to increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio says time running out for negotiated settlement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to journalists while leaving Israel for Qatar, acknowledged the start of operations in Gaza City and stressed the need for an immediate end to the conflict that eliminates Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Israelis have begun to take operations there. So we think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio said a deal would need to include the release of hostages and the demilitarization and disarming of Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubio plans to visit Qatar on Tuesday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day earlier in Israel, where they showed a unified front in the face of international anger<\/a> over Israel\u2019s airstrikes on Hamas leaders in Qatar and its bombardment of Gaza City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration appears keen to ease tensions between its two close allies, following Israel\u2019s strike in Doha last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes Tuesday across Gaza City as\u00a0Israel\u2019s defense minister said that \u201cGaza is burning,\u201d\u00a0in remarks that came as a new Israeli ground offensive targeted the city. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said that the \u201cmain phase\u201d of the Gaza City operation had begun, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-22.png?fit=768%2C512&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18785,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18782\/revisions\/18785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}