Sawt Falasteen - Israel flattens high-rise as it tells Gaza City residents to flee

Israel has been warning for weeks of a new assault on the territory's largest city, without issuing a timeline.

It has stepped up air strikes and ground operations on the city's outskirts, sparking fears it could worsen already dire conditions.

On Saturday, Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of leaflets on western neighbourhoods calling on residents to evacuate, witnesses and an AFP journalist said.

Nafez Anis, who has been living in a tent with his family in Gaza City, said he had read the leaflet, but was not planning on leaving.

"Where should we go?" he told AFP. "We will wait, and when we see Israeli tanks approaching here, we will leave."

Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 24 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire during the day, including five near an aid distribution centre west of Khan Yunis.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military requested precise timeframes and coordinates to look into the reports.

On Saturday, the military said it struck a Gaza City high-rise, saying Hamas was using it "to monitor" Israeli troops and adding that it had taken "measures to mitigate harm to civilians".

Witnesses identified the building as the Sussi residential tower and said it was destroyed. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz shared a video showing the roughly 15-storey structure collapsing in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Hamas condemned the attack and denied using residential or civilian buildings for military purposes.

- 'Death pursues us' -

The Israeli military has said it will target structures being used by Hamas, particularly tall buildings.

It also issued an evacuation order for another high-rise on Saturday, warning of an imminent strike and telling people to leave for the south.

A military spokesperson had earlier called on residents to leave for Al-Mawasi, on the Mediterranean coast to the south, where the army said humanitarian aid and medical care would be provided.

"Take this opportunity to move early to the humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already gone there," spokesman Avichay Adraee said on social media.

Israel first declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then, saying they targeted Hamas.

Gaza City residents said they believed it made little difference whether they stayed or fled.

"Some say we should evacuate, others say we should stay," said Abdel Nasser Mushtaha, 48.

"But everywhere in Gaza there are bombings and deaths" he added, pointing, in particular, to the strikes on Al-Mawasi.

"It no longer makes any difference to us," said his daughter Samia Mushtaha, 20. "Wherever we go, death pursues us, whether by bombing or hunger."

- US in 'deep negotiation' -

Israel has faced mounting domestic and international pressure to end the nearly two-year war.

Its foe Hamas agreed last month to a proposal for a temporary ceasefire and staggered hostage releases, but Israel has demanded the militant group release all the hostages at once, disarm and relinquish control of Gaza, among other conditions.

At the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump said the United States was in talks with Hamas over the captives being held in Gaza.

"We're in very deep negotiation with Hamas," said Trump.

"We said let them all out right now, let them all out, and much better things will happen for them," said Trump. "But if you don't let them all out, it's going to be a tough situation, it's going to be nasty."

Militants took 251 hostages during the October 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war. The Israeli military says 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 believed to be dead.

The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in and around Gaza City, where it declared a famine last month. It has warned of a looming "disaster" if the assault proceeds.

Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

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N.Shalabi--SF-PST