The Israeli military launched a ground offensive on Monday to seize Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre, Axios reported, citing Israeli officials.
An Armored Personnel Carrier manoeuvres along the Israeli side of the border, as destruction in Gaza is seen in the background, in Israel September 16, 2025. Reuters/Amir Cohen
The Israeli military launched a ground offensive on Monday to seize Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre, Axios reported, citing Israeli officials.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to request for comment on the reported move, which comes after weeks of intensive Israeli strikes on the city.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military last month to capture Gaza City, which he describes as a stronghold of the militant group Hamas that launched the October 2023 surprise attack on Israel.
The military has since laid siege to the Gaza Strip, creating a humanitarian catastrophe with widespread destruction, mass displacement and severe shortages of food and water.
Israeli forces have been operating on the outskirts of Gaza City for weeks, edging closer to the centre of the city where an estimated 1 million Palestinians were sheltering last month.
"Gaza is burning," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X early on Tuesday. "The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas."
It was not immediately clear if Katz was commenting on the reported ground operation.
Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show. Israeli authorities say 20 of the remaining 48 hostages in Gaza are alive.
Reporting by Christian Martinez, Alexander Cornwell, Enas Alashray and Yomna Ehab
Lebanon's embassy in Washington said in a statement on Monday that Hezbollah had accepted a U.S. proposal for a mutual cessation of hostilities that would be extended to encompass all Lebanese territory.
Israel's defence ministry said on Monday France had banned Israeli government officials from a major weapons show in Paris, and had imposed restrictions on companies from the country exhibiting there.
The medieval Beaufort Castle's stone ramparts tower so far above south Lebanon that Israel could hail their capture as a strategic victory, even as it evoked the miseries of a previous occupation.
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