Sheikh Radwan besieged by tanks, drones, explosives amid Israel’s advance on northern Gaza City

People living in Sheikh Radwan have faced relentless gunfire, artillery shelling and airstrikes over recent days under constant drone surveillance, four eyewitnesses told Mada Masr.

The neighborhood, located in Gaza City’s northeast, has become the latest front in the Israeli military’s advance on the city. 

Israeli vehicles are concentrated in eastern Sheikh Radwan, turning the area into a launchpad for tank and aerial operations stretching as far as the Jesr Street in the city’s northwest.

The area was the worst impacted in an aerial bombardment campaign that saw dozens of missiles rain down across Gaza City through Sunday night and into Monday morning, even before Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened a “hurricane” of strikes as the military plans to expand its operation to capture the largest metropolitan area in the strip.

Sheikh Radwan was pummeled by at least 10 airstrikes overnight, Aaed Harb, a resident told Mada Masr.

Several homes and apartments were targeted in the bombardment, said Harb. “Flames were rising almost everywhere in the neighborhood and people were running for their lives from the attack.”

The Sheikh Radwan Pond area was also subject to repeated artillery shelling on Sunday night, with some rounds reaching areas west of Jalaa Street, the central artery that divides Gaza City in two.

Homes were specifically targeted for destruction. Several were razed to the ground by remotely detonated explosives. Others were targeted by drone fire.

One eyewitness described seeing a quadcopter launch several bombs onto the roof of a house. Seconds later, massive explosions resounded, destroying the upper floor and sending shrapnel flying across the neighborhood as far as its western side.

The source said Sheikh Radwan was undergoing a suffocating and violent siege, with swarms of quadcopters hovering overhead blockading the neighborhood’s eastern side.

Eyewitness Ali Afify also described quadcopters flying over the neighborhood around the clock, surveilling residents who remain in the area, refusing to evacuate. 

Quadcopters circling near the Sheikh Radwan clinic broadcast audio messages threatening that those who do not comply with evacuation orders would be targeted.

Such targeted attacks have already taken place, said Afify. He described how two families returning to their homes in Sheikh Radwan from southern Gaza on Saturday were spotted by a quadcopter and struck by a reconnaissance missile as they unloaded their belongings. Three people were injured.

Still, many in the area refuse to abandon their homes. Abu Mahmoud Ghaleb and his family are among those who decided to stay despite repeated evacuation orders issued via drones and leaflets. 

Ghaleb said that the Occupation treats families who remain as though they are defying its orders, immediately and relentlessly targeting them. In one instance, eight members of the same family were killed and dozens were injured when Israeli forces targeted their home, the source said.

Since Israel began to advance on Gaza City on three fronts early August, around 50,000 people have been displaced, according to the Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster.

Israel aims to displace hundreds of thousands of people from the city, according to estimates published by a military correspondent. 

Aerial bombardment across Gaza City

Israeli airstrikes escalated sharply across Gaza City into Monday, extending beyond areas where its ground forces have advanced and targeting every part of the city, particularly the west.

Dozens of homes and tents sheltering displaced people were struck in several neighborhoods, including Sheikh Ejlin in the southwest; Remal and Shati in the west; and al-Nasr in the northwest, adjacent to Sheikh Radwan. 

On Sunday night alone, 30 airstrikes pummeled residential areas across the city. Eyewitnesses in western Gaza described it as one of the most violent nights they had ever endured, with bombardment continuing without pause. Ambulances rushed through the streets throughout the night as rescue teams retrieved the dead and injured from all over the city.

Confirming the surge in bombardment over the past two days, Gaza’s Civil Defense Agency spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, described the "extremely heavy and indiscriminate” targeting of homes, apartment buildings, displacement tents, schools and hospitals “without any regard for civilian lives.”

Basal also said that Sunday night’s raids were the most devastating, leaving scores of people killed or wounded. Gaza City, he said, is facing a systematic and violent attempt to erase it from the map, with the Israeli military attempting to claim as many lives and destroy as much property as possible.

Israeli forces have already occupied and destroyed large parts of the city, he said, adding that many bodies remain in areas that rescue teams cannot access.

Simultaneously, Israeli artillery continued to pound eastern, southern and western Gaza City. 

Katz said later on Monday afternoon that a “huge hurricane” would strike the city as a “final warning to the Hamas murderers.”

The defense minister’s threat came amid reports that United States officials have delivered an updated proposal to Hamas for consideration, as a delegation from the group visits Cairo.