An image distributed by the IDF on September 13 shows a high-rise building targeted by the Israeli military. (IDF)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) completed preparations for the next phase of an offensive into Gaza City, according to an Israeli media report on September 14. The IDF has positioned forces near Gaza City as it continues to call on civilians to evacuate the urban area and head south. The Israeli military also continues to pound Gaza City from the air, focusing on destroying high-rise buildings that it says are being used by Hamas.
The operation to clear Gaza City, dubbed Gideon’s Chariots II, was approved in August. It follows Gideon’s Chariots I, which took place from May through July and led to the IDF taking control of around 70 percent of Gaza.
“The IDF completed its final preparations for the ground offensive this weekend, assembling hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers along Gaza’s northern edge. Regular infantry units are expected to lead the incursion, supported by brigades already operating on the city’s flanks,” Ynet reported on September 14.
The Israeli military said it continues to operate in the suburbs of Gaza City. In Jabaliya, which the IDF has cleared numerous times since the war began in October 2023, the IDF says its troops “eliminated numerous terrorists and dismantled terror infrastructure sites.” In Sheikh Radwan, another neighborhood bordering Gaza City, the IDF said it was operating on the outskirts of the urban area “to degrade terror infrastructure sites in the area.” Four Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack on a tank in Sheikh Radwan on September 8.
The picture emerging in Gaza is that Gaza City is slowly being surrounded. Ynet reported that Israeli forces carried out strikes in Shati, a neighborhood named after the beach where it is located. In addition, troops have operated in Zeitoun, an area between the Netzarim Corridor and Gaza City.
The IDF said on September 12 that it has struck 500 targets during recent preparations for Gideon’s Chariots II. “This week, the IDF completed five waves of strikes in Gaza City. After the first three waves focused on the Daraj Tuffah and al-Furqan area, the IAF completed two additional waves that expanded to the al-Shati area and further areas in al-Furqan,” the IDF said.
The IDF controlled 40 percent of Gaza City by September 5, Reuters reported. Since then, the Israeli military has concentrated on preparing its forces while inching forward in the city’s suburbs. The IDF also began a wave of airstrikes targeting high-rise buildings. In each case, the Israeli military calls on civilians to flee the area around the building being struck. After several attacks on high-rises on September 14, the IDF said “Hamas terrorists planted intelligence gathering means and positioned observation posts to monitor the location of IDF troops in the area, and to advance terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and IDF troops.”
The Israeli military has called in Arabic for the residents of northern Gaza to evacuate south. Around 300,000 people have already evacuated Gaza City, the Times of Israel reported on September 14. As more civilians head toward southern Gaza, the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation noted that aid distribution sites have seen a 15–20 percent increase in people arriving to receive assistance.
Other humanitarian efforts have increased in southern Gaza as more individuals evacuate to that portion of the territory. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), which deals with humanitarian coordination in Gaza and the West Bank, noted on September 14 that it had enabled a water line to be repaired. “Following repair works on the ‘Bani Suheila’ water pipeline by international organizations and teams, water supply to Gaza through the line has resumed,” COGAT noted. “The ‘Bani Suhila’ line is one of the three water lines from Israel, two of which are to the southern part of Gaza. […] With the water line working, approx. 14,000 m³ of water is delivered daily to the areas of Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis, and Al-Mawasi,” the statement said.