Israel surrounds last remaining Gaza City neighborhood, empties Shati camp

Despite the grand announcement of a prospective end to the war on Monday in Washington DC, the Israeli assault on Gaza City continues to push toward the western neighborhoods of the strip’s largest metropolitan area, residents told Mada Masr. 

In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces have pummeled the western areas of Rimal neighborhood and Shati Refugee Camp. 

Tanks have fired into the heart of Rimal’s Saraya area, and quadcopters have opened fire on people moving in houses, dropping tear gas in both areas and near Shifa hospital to force families to leave and flee toward the southern part of the strip, residents told Mada Masr. 

While there remain families in the Shati camp, which was besieged late last week, many have already fled, according to a resident in the south of the camp. Now, the Occupation is directing its firepower on Rimal as it prepares to advance into the administrative and economic hub of Gaza City.

Between September 23 and 27, monitoring conducted by the Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster (CCCM) noted around 10,300 displacement movements from the area around Rimal and Shati Camp, and specified that most observed movements originated from the western areas of Shati camp Rimal and Nasr, in addition to the southern neighborhood of Tal al-Hawa. Israel had encircled the camp at the close of last week, with the stated intent of emptying Shati and leveling the residential buildings.

Israel encircled the camp late last week and then began to carry out a heavy assault over the weekend. 

Artillery fire began to intensify on Shati on Saturday, causing extensive damage to several homes in the camp’s northern parts. An eyewitness still in the area told Mada Masr that they could clearly hear tanks moving in the northern areas of the camp.

Conditions for those inside the camp were extremely dangerous. 

The camp’s central market was repeatedly struck by air raids on Saturday night.

The same eyewitness said that quadcopters were hovering “very low” over the camp during the night, firing at homes and then withdrawing. 

Later the same night, an airstrike hit the market followed by another an hour later. The eyewitness described the impact of the blows as “extremely powerful,” inflicting extensive damage on the surroundings and those nearby. Most of the central market is empty, they said, yet several people were present in the area and were struck by shrapnel. 

“The situation in Shati is terrifying,” they added. While most residents are now crowded in the camp’s southern blocks, they are under constant threat as airstrikes reach all parts of Shati.

After this intense bombing, Israeli forces moved into Shati in recent days, and it is now mostly empty, the resident of the camp told Mada Masr. 

According to Israeli media, “the southern part of Shati was intentionally left unencircled, to allow the few thousand remaining residents to leave the neighborhood.” Now the military plans to raze the camp as it has done in Zeitoun, Sabra and Jablia. 

Having pushed through Shati, Israeli tanks are escalating their attack on Rimal, virtually the only neighborhood in the city not fully controlled by the Israeli military. An eyewitness in the area told Mada Masr that tanks can be seen surrounding the outskirts of Rimal.

Nader al-Salhy, who is in Gaza City, told Mada Masr that Occupation tanks have not stopped shelling Shati refugee camp and the western areas of the city in general, adding that quadcopters had reached their home and opened fire upon detecting movement inside.

"We remained lying on the ground for more than three hours until the quadcopters left the area,” he said. "We are living in real terror and do not know what we will do. We have no place to go, not even a tent to live in, and that is why we had decided not to flee the city. "

Rimal, considered the main economic nerve center of the Gaza Strip, houses many of Gaza’s ministries and government institutions, as well as the Legislative Council building

Now, along with the many who are seeking shelter from Israel’s assault, it is in danger of being razed to the ground. 

For another resident of Rimal, the threat is clear: “The Occupation has resolved to completely destroy the city, as happened in the northern Gaza Strip and in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.” 

With the invading military now controlling around 80 percent of Gaza City, only one passage is left open: the coastal road leading toward the southern Gaza Strip, where rent is high, space is limited and services are sparse.