More than 1.2 million people in Gaza City face the threat of death and forced displacement as Israel moves forward with a military plan to re-occupy the city. Local authorities have warned that the invasion, already underway in surrounding neighbourhoods, would constitute an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and a blatant war crime, urging the international community to intervene before it is too late.

For nearly two weeks, areas such as Zaytoun and Sabra have endured unrelenting attacks, while earlier assaults in Shuja’iyya, Tuffah, and Daraj left behind widespread devastation. Officials warn that Gaza City risks suffering the same fate as Rafah, Khan Younis, and northern Gaza, obliterated under bombardment and emptied of its population. With civilians crammed into increasingly smaller spaces without food, medicine, or shelter, the humanitarian situation has already reached breaking point.

The Israeli military has begun issuing so-called “warning calls” to medical organisations and aid bodies in northern Gaza in preparation for mass expulsions to the south. Defence Minister Yisrael Katz has signed off on the operation, codenamed “Gideon’s Chariots 2,” which has also been approved at the highest political level. The plan involves besieging Gaza City, displacing its population, and intensifying both ground and aerial assaults.

Since October 2023, Gaza has endured nearly two years of relentless war, with more than 62,000 people killed, over 157,000 injured, thousands missing, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Starvation has already claimed the lives of children and the elderly. Now, with the threat of a full invasion of Gaza City, residents brace for yet another chapter of mass suffering, while calls grow louder for the world to act before the city is reduced to ruins.