Israel unleashed a massive new bombing campaign on Gaza City on Tuesday after visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the ally’s goal of eradicating Hamas and warned that only days may be left for a diplomatic solution.
A United Nations probe, meanwhile, charged Israel with committing “genocide” in Gaza in a bid to “destroy the Palestinians”. It accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials of incitement.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said early Tuesday that Gaza City, the territory’s main urban hub, was “on fire”.
“The IDF (Israeli military) is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the necessary conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he said.
“We will not relent and we will not back down until the mission is accomplished,” Katz said.
It was unclear whether the previously declared ground assault on Gaza City had been launched.
Witnesses told AFP of relentless bombing of Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes since the Hamas attacks of October 2023 that triggered the war.
“We can hear their screams,” said 25-year-old resident Ahmed Ghazal.
Rubio offered robust backing for the offensive on Monday as he met Netanyahu, who has ordered the Israeli military to seize Gaza City.
Rubio told reporters as he left Israel: “We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go.”
Rubio said a diplomatic solution in which Hamas demilitarises remained the US preference, although he added: “Sometimes when you’re dealing with a group of savages like Hamas, that’s not possible, but we hope it can happen.”
Rubio, who met Monday in Jerusalem with families of hostages in Gaza, acknowledged that Hamas had leverage by holding them.
“If there were no hostages and no civilians in the way, this war would have ended a year and a half ago,” he said at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
A group representing hostages’ families said they were “terrified” for their loved ones after Netanyahu ordered the strikes.
“He is doing everything to ensure there is no deal and not to bring them back,” they said in a statement.
