Israel calls up reservists as it pushes into first stage of Gaza City offensive

Israel began mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and repeated evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive in Gaza City, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad.

The beginning of September call-up, announced last month, comes as ground and air forces press forward and pursue more targets in northern and central Gaza, striking parts of Zeitoun and Shijaiyah — two western Gaza City neighbourhoods that Israeli forces have repeatedly invaded during the nearly two-year war against Hamas militants.

Zeitoun, once Gaza City’s largest neighbourhood with markets, schools and clinics, has been transformed over the past month, with streets being emptied and buildings reduced to rubble as it becomes what Israel’s military last week called a “ dangerous combat zone”.

Gaza City is Hamas’s political and military stronghold and, according to Israel, still home to a vast tunnel network, despite multiple incursions throughout the war.

It is also one of the last refuges in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering, facing the twin threats of combat and famine.

Israel on Tuesday repeated earlier warnings to Palestinians who have remained in Gaza City, unconvinced that another displacement will keep them safe.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that combat operations would soon be expanding, and that services would be made available in Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp south of Gaza City.

At least 47 people have been killed across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Tuesday, according to hospitals.

In Gaza City, Israeli strikes killed at least 26 people, who arrived at Shifa hospital since Tuesday morning, an official there told The Associated Press.

A strike on a residential building in Tel al-Hawa wounded 28 people on Tuesday, according to al-Quds Hospital, a day after overnight strikes in the neighbourhood.

Overnight, a strike on a residential building in the neighbourhood killed 15 people including at least three children.

Shifa Hospital’s morgue confirmed 15 deaths from the Israeli strike, one of several lethal strikes on the neigbourhood.

Further south, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis and Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said they received 22 casualties killed by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire near distribution sites and in a corridor frequented by UN convoys.

In recent months, more than 2,300 aid seekers have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The toll includes Palestinians who have sought aid in areas where UN convoys have been overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds, and where people have been fatally shot while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, an Israeli-backed American contractor.

Israel’s military and GHF did not immediately respond to questions about the latest incidents.

At least 60,000 reservists will be gradually called up, Israel’s military said last month.

It will also extend the service of an additional 20,000 reservists already serving.

In Israel, with a population of less than 10 million, most Jewish men complete compulsory military service and remain in the reserves for at least a decade.

But criticism over the war in Gaza is growing. A number of movements are organising to encourage reservists not to serve, though it is unclear how many will refuse the latest call-up.

Reservists protested the call-up in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, questioning whether the offensive was a political move and whether it would push Israel toward its goals of crippling Hamas’s military capabilities in Gaza.

Refusing to show up for reserve duty is an offence that can merit prison time, though only a handful of reserve soldiers who have refused to serve have been put in military prison over the course of the war.