GAZA CITY – In a dramatic escalation of its military offensive, Israel has leveled a second high-rise building in Gaza City, turning a 15-story residential tower into a cloud of dust and smoke as its forces press deeper into the urban heart of the enclave. The strike on the Sussi Tower, which followed a similar attack on a separate high-rise just a day earlier, has erased a significant piece of the city’s skyline and intensified fears of a coming ground invasion.
The Israeli military, in a statement posted on social media, claimed the building was being used by the Hamas terrorist organization for “intelligence-gathering equipment and observation posts to monitor Israeli troop movements.” Defense Minister Israel Katz posted a video of the collapsing tower with a simple, defiant message: “We’re continuing.”
But for Palestinians and international observers, the strikes represent a chilling and systematic campaign to render Gaza City uninhabitable. The Mushtaha Tower, which was destroyed on Friday, was a bustling commercial and residential hub. The Sussi Tower, a day later, housed dozens of families and displaced individuals who had nowhere else to go. Witnesses said the collapse of the tower shook the surrounding neighborhoods and left nearby streets and homes heavily damaged, but it was not immediately clear if there were casualties.
The strikes follow urgent warnings from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) calling on residents to evacuate. As Israeli forces have pushed to seize control of Gaza City, they have issued maps of “red zones” and urged a civilian population of nearly one million to move south to a designated humanitarian zone.
However, many Palestinians have refused to leave, citing a lack of safe routes and the grim reality that nowhere in Gaza has proven to be secure. The United Nations has warned that a mass evacuation would create a humanitarian disaster in an area already suffering from famine.
The assault has sparked a new wave of international condemnation. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the attacks were part of a “systematic plan” to forcibly displace the population. Analysts believe the leveling of high-rises is not only a tactical move to destroy alleged militant infrastructure but also a psychological one, designed to break the will of a population already reeling from nearly two years of brutal conflict.
As the sun set over Gaza City, the sounds of air raids and explosions continued, leaving residents to contemplate a future without homes and an assault that shows no signs of slowing down.