ISRAELI forces on Monday advanced from three directions toward the battered and densely populated Hamas stronghold of Gaza City, slowly pushing deeper into the Gaza Strip while battering the territory with airstrikes and renewing evacuation warnings to people and hospitals.
On the fourth day of Israel’s invasion, formations of its troops and armored vehicles approached the city and neighboring population centers from the north, east and south, as shown by eyewitness photos and videos verified by The New York Times, as well as satellite imagery.
The deepest penetration, about three miles, paralleled the Mediterranean coast toward the Shati refugee camp on the northern flank of the city. South of the city, Israeli forces reached Salah Al-Din Road, one of the main north-south arteries used by people trying to heed the Israeli call to evacuate northern Gaza. One widely circulated video showed an armored vehicle there firing on a car, which Palestinians said could discourage people from attempting the trip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have vowed to wipe out Hamas, the armed group that controls Gaza, after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. According to the Israeli government, Hamas-led fighters killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seized more than 230 hostages, including women and young children.
“Israel is fighting the enemies of civilization itself,” Mr. Netanyahu said at a news conference on Monday with foreign news outlets. He rejected the idea of a cease-fire, backed by humanitarian groups and the United Nations General Assembly, among others, adding, “calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism.”
Israel has responded to the Oct. 7 assault with a ferocity far beyond its previous conflicts with Hamas, first with an intensive air and artillery bombardment that is still underway, with hundreds of strikes daily. The campaign has killed more than 8,000 Gazans, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, displaced more than a million and physically devastated large swaths of the Palestinian territory.
