Israeli tanks advance to northern Gaza City after Netanyahu approves takeover

Israeli tanks advanced into the Saftawy neighborhood on the northern edge of Gaza City on Sunday, two eyewitnesses told Mada Masr.

The advance, which came after a night of heavy bombardment on Jabalia to the north east of the city, marks a serious development in Israel’s operation to take control of Gaza City and brings its forces adjacent to the central artery, Jalaa Street, that separates the city east from west.

A simultaneous advance has brought troops deeper into the city from the southeast in recent days, with soldiers reaching the heart of Sabra neighborhood, furthering the slow encirclement of the metropole where around 1 million people are currently taking shelter.

The occupying military’s operations have continued at an intense pitch for two weeks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating Thursday that he had approved the military’s plan to “take control” of Gaza City, declining to engage with a ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed to last week.  

A tank, a bulldozer and several jeeps arrived at the Abu Sharakh roundabout in the northern Saftawy neighborhood at dawn on Sunday, eyewitness Moataz Arafa told Mada Masr. The advance was accompanied by live rounds from quadcopter drones.

Photographer Bashar Taleb told Mada Masr that the advance came from Israeli vehicles that were stationed east of Jabalia, which he said repeatedly advanced into central Saftawy, placed remote-controlled robotic explosives among homes, withdrew, and then detonated the explosives.

When one explosive was detonated in the middle of a residential bloc, “shrapnel flew everywhere, reaching as far as the Workers’ Union intersection in northern Gaza City — a significant distance from the blast site,” Arafa said.

A small number of Saftway residents fled southward in anticipation of a larger incursion, according to Taleb. But he said the majority have remained in the neighborhood despite evacuation orders and ongoing bombardment.

“Many have nowhere to go,” Taleb explained, citing the lack of transportation and material to build shelters. “People, their bodies weakened, are wandering the streets not knowing where to go,” forcibly displaced without physical or financial means, he said.

The Israeli military last operated in the Saftawy area at the very start of the war on Gaza but has not approached the northern Gaza City neighborhood for months.

The night before, firebelts, explosives and artillery had torn through homes in Jabalia and its surrounding towns and villages to the northeast of Saftawy, eyewitnesses told Mada Masr. 

Eyewitness Mohamed Mansour said firebelts intensified on the areas of Jabalia al-Balad and Jabalia al-Nazla overnight on Saturday. “The explosions didn’t stop for one moment,” he said. “The fire belts occurred consecutively, proving that the Occupation is demolishing entire residential blocks.”

Many families in both areas remain trapped and unable to leave, including some of Mansour’s own family. He told Mada Masr that he had completely lost contact with them. “Judging by the sounds of the fire belts and explosions, Occupation vehicles and robotic explosives appear to have reached where they live.”

In Sabra, Israeli vehicles moving under non-stop artillery fire have slowly pushed into the central parts of the neighborhood, reaching Abu Sharia roundabout in its center on Friday, eyewitness Ahmed Abu Sharia told Mada Masr. The neighborhood has endured heavy bombardment for six consecutive days.

He said many bodies are still in the streets, with ambulance crews unable to reach them due to the intensity of the fire.

In the southeastern Zeitoun neighborhood, operations continued Sunday for the 14th consecutive day. 

Egypt celebrated Hamas’s acceptance last week of a ceasefire deal proposal, a framework with a multi-phase prisoner exchange entailing clauses on Hamas’s disarmament and future governance in the strip built on the United States’ vision for an agreement earlier this year, with key developments thrashed out by mediators in Cairo and Doha.

Yet Israeli officials have all but ignored the new formula, with Netanyhu stating on Thursday that a delegation would re-enter negotiations toward a ceasefire deal that would meet Israel’s terms, including the release of all the prisoners still held in the strip. 

Netanyahu has articulated an alternative vision that would see Israel given or seizing full security control of the strip, and handing governance over to an entity representing neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.

Amid the diplomatic stalemate, Israel’s military is pushing forward with its plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza City of its Palestinian residents to the south of the strip, near the border with Egypt — reportedly with US blessing. Its military logistics agency informed a north Gaza medic last week that health facilities should begin preparing evacuation plans.