The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have intensified their military assault on Gaza City to implement their declared military plan aimed at fully controlling the city, depopulating it, and forcibly displacing its residents to the southern Gaza Strip. This escalation comes while the Israeli military aggression continues across the Gaza Strip, including al-Mawasi area in western Khan Yunis, which the IOF have declared as a “humanitarian zone”¹ in a misleading act to facilitate the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and to carry out the broadest-scale crime of genocide aimed at eradicating Palestinians and erasing their existence.

According to our staff’s follow-up, over the past few days, the IOF have intensified the detonation of explosive-laden robots, especially during the night and early dawn, in Jabalia al-Nazla area, Abu Iskandar area, and al-Jalaa Street up to Sheikh Radwan intersection in northern Gaza City. Repeated explosions were also observed at night in eastern Sheikh Radwan Pond, carried out by Israeli drones dropping explosives onto high buildings.

Additionally, intense artillery shelling continues in the northeast of al-Sheikh Redwan neighborhood, alongside gunfire from “quadcopter” drones, in addition to direct targeting from a military crane installed in eastern al-Sheikh Redwan Pond toward civilians’ houses in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood and al-Jalaa Street.

Such acts have forced thousands of residents to flee off Jabalia shore near the Egyptian Towers, while others have been displaced south, where thousands are crammed together, with no available space to accommodate them.

Moreover, the displacement of southern Gaza City’s residents continues after the IOF declared their intention to take control of the city and depopulate it. As a result, thousands of families were forced to leave their homes and sources of livelihood behind.

Since 11 August 2025, the IOF have been carrying out intensive ground and air attacks on the southern, eastern, and northern parts of Gaza City to besiege it. These attacks have been accompanied by repeated orders for residents to move south. This is part of a new military operation, dubbed ‘Gideon’s Chariots II’ by the IOF, aimed at targeting what remains of the city’s infrastructure and residential buildings.

In his testimony to PCHR’s staff, Hasan al-Shareef (66), from al-Sheikh Redwan, stated: “After midnight, we heard a massive explosion. We went outside to find our neighbors’ house reduced to rubble, with nothing left but dust. I gathered my family, and we started running on the street without taking even the simplest belongings from the house.

Marwa al-Essi (45), from al-Zarqa area, said to PCHR’s staff: “We were forced to flee due to the intense gunfire and the destruction of the houses before us. For me, displacement is a slow death, no less brutal than the bombardment, as we remain on the street not knowing where to go.”

In her testimony, En’am Yousef al-Naji (21), from southern al-Sheikh Redwan Pond, stated: “I fled on foot with my family under artillery shelling and airstrikes toward western Gaza city. We went through moments of terror unlike anything we had experienced before”.

In addition to the escalating military offensive in the southern, eastern, and northern parts of Gaza City, the IOF intensified their airstrikes in early September, targeting all neighborhoods of the city, particularly the western ones, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are crowded. The IOF have focused their airstrikes on residential towers and high-rise buildings.

According to our staff’s follow-up, at approximately 13:30 on Friday, 05 September 2025, Israeli warplanes destroyed the 14-story Mushtaha tower near Ansar roundabout in western Gaza after ordering its residents to evacuate immediately. The tower contained dozens of housing units sheltering hundreds of families, many of whom had already been displaced from other destroyed areas. Its destruction came as a shock to the residents, who suddenly found themselves homeless, and spread fear among both the tower’s residents and those living in nearby tents.

In her testimony, Um Maher al-Ra’i (50), who had sought refuge in the tower with her family two weeks earlier and was shocked by the evacuation order, said: ‘I felt my feet clinging to the ground and could not move. My children helped me down, and we stood in the street watching the home that had sheltered us after displacement collapse before our eyes.’“

Mohammed Mushtaha (9), one of the tower’s residents, said: “I was playing with my siblings when suddenly my father shouted that we had to go down quickly. We ran down the stairs while Israeli warplanes heavily hovered above. When we reached the street, I saw the tower collapsing into a pile of rubble, and all my toys and books were gone.”

In a similar step, on Saturday, 06 September 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed and completely destroyed al-Sousi tower near al-Sina’a intersection. The tower contained dozens of residential apartments that sheltered many families.

Aya al-Zain (14) stated to PCHR’s staff: “We were living with my aunt in the same apartment after our first home was bombed. When they told us to leave, I took a bag with the essentials, but I forgot my sketchbook, my diary, and the photo album. I stood on the street crying as I watched our apartment reduced to rubble.”

In another crime occurred at around 18:30 on Sunday, 07 September 2025, Israeli warplanes destroyed al-Ro’ya Building located near the Ministry of Finance intersection, southwest of Gaza City. The targeted building sheltered dozens of families.

The destruction of these residential towers does not only mean the loss of homes but also erases the lives and memories of hundreds of families who have been left homeless for the fifth, sixth, or even tenth time, amid ongoing waves of displacement and the deprivation of basic means of dignified living.

As a result of having no alternatives, many families have been forced to set up makeshift tents on the beach or on the destroyed streets, facing severe difficulties in accessing drinking water, food, and medicine.

Shahd Sha’ban (25), from al-Nafaq Street area, stated: “A missile fell next to our house while I was breastfeeding my baby. We rushed out without shoes or belongings, carrying nothing but our lives.”

Um ‘Awni al-Rab’i, who is displaced in a tent near al-Shifa Medical Complex, stated: “My children ask me every night, ‘Where will we sleep?’ I have no answer. Fear and hunger have become our constant companions, and we have no money to move south or to buy a tent.”

Amid all this, the IOF have intensified mass killings against civilians in Gaza City, inflicting dozens of deaths and injuries.

The following are incidents documented by our staff over the past few days:

At around 01:00 on Friday, 05 September 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed a tent sheltering displaced people at the Islamic University Headquarters, west of Gaza City. As a result, four members of al-‘Afifi family, including a father and his two children, were killed.

At approximately 05:00 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a residential apartment in al-Yarmouk neighborhood in central Gaza City. As a result, three people, including a child and a woman, were killed. Those killed were from Jouda and Salama families.

At around 05:30 on the same day, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike on the vicinity of the former al-Jawazat headquarters in the al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City. The area is crowded with tents of displaced people. As a result, six people, including a woman and two children, were killed. Those killed were from Toutah, Mesleh, and al-Jabali families (PCHR keeps a record of the victims’ names).

At approximately 23:30 on Thursday, 04 September 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed a tent sheltering displaced people near Abu Mazen’s intersection in the southern al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City. As a result, five members of the al-Basbous family, including four siblings, were killed in a scene that reflects the magnitude of the tragedy and the depth of the disaster.

At around 02:10 on Wednesday, 03 September 2025, Israeli warplanes bombed a residential apartment sheltering displaced people from al-Jrisi family near Esleem Factory on al-Nafaq Street, north of Gaza City. As a result, five members of al-Jrisi family, including two brothers and their two children, were killed.

At around 11:30 on the same day, Israeli warplanes bombed a residential apartment sheltering displaced people from Abu ‘Aita family near al-Sheikh Redwan bridge in al-Sheikh Redwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City. As a result, five members of Abu ‘Atia family, including a woman and a child, were killed.

Amid this horrifying situation of mass killings, widespread destruction of buildings, and systematic starvation, ongoing for nearly two years, over two million people in the Gaza Strip are experiencing unprecedented physical and psychological exhaustion, along with a complete lack of basic means of living.

In light of this escalation, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reiterates its previous warning about the catastrophic consequences of the Israeli declared plan, which aims to take full control of Gaza City, empty it of its residents, and forcibly displace them to the south of the Gaza Strip. 

PCHR warns that what is going on in Gaza is a prelude to inflicting maximum casualties among Palestinians and paving the way for their expulsion beyond its borders in what would be the largest act of ethnic cleansing in the occupied Palestinian territory since the Nakba. Meanwhile, the international community either remains silent or proves unable to take serious action to stop the genocide, now entering its twenty-third month.

PCHR emphasizes that the Israeli declaration of al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian” zone is merely a misleading propaganda cover to facilitate the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, while the facts on the ground reveal that the situation in al-Mawasi area is catastrophic on all levels due to the ongoing grave violations against Palestinian civilians.

Al-Mawasi, primarily an agricultural area lacking buildings and basic services, has been repeatedly targeted by Israeli bombardment over the past months, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries. Furthermore, the area continues to endure daily artillery shelling, gunfire from military vehicles and Israeli gunboats, despite the IOF having designated it, since the onset of their military aggression nearly 23 months ago, as a “safe haven” for displaced people.

PCHR affirms that the Israeli declaration of so-called “humanitarian” zones over the past months was never accompanied by any legal obligation on Israel’s part. Instead, it has functioned as an additional tool to concentrate civilians and impose harsh living conditions, facilitating their killing, starvation, and forcible displacement, while also imposing new realities on the ground.

The continued repeated bombardment and the denial of food and healthcare to displaced people in al-Mawasi area clearly reveal that the real objective is to expand ethnic cleansing policies rather than protect civilians. Furthermore, the concentration of Gaza residents and displaced people, estimated between 800,000 and one million people, serves as a prelude to their forcible displacement into permanent exile.

PCHR calls on the international community and United Nations bodies to reject this deception, hold Israel accountable for its crimes, uphold the right of Gaza’s residents and all Palestinians to remain in their homes, and ensure safe and effective corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law.

PCHR calls on the international community—particularly the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the International Court of Justice, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights—to take urgent and immediate action to halt Israel’s plan, prevent the repetition of another Nakba against the Palestinian people, protect Gaza City—the largest Palestinian urban centre, home to hundreds of historical and cultural landmarks—and compel Israel to end its ongoing genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip.

1. The Israeli Spokesperson, official account on X platform, 06 September 2025. Link ↩︎