Israel’s military (IDF) on Wednesday plunged deeper into Gaza City, after the day prior IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir confirmed that the offensive to conquer the Strip’s largest city is underway, as tens of thousands of additional Israeli reservists began to report for duty for the operation.
“We are going to increase and enhance the strikes of our operation, and that is why we called you,” Zamir announced from Nachshonim military base in central Israel. “We have already begun the ground operation in Gaza [City].”
“We will not stop the war until we defeat this enemy,” he emphasized, in line with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s priory of inflicting a total military defeat on the Islamist group behind the Oct.7, 2023 terror attack.
Soldiers and tanks were spotted pushing into Sheikh Radwan, one of the urban center’s largest and most crowded neighborhoods, on Wednesday – with so far at least 24 Palestinians, some of them children, reported killed across the Gaza Strip.
For nearly two years there have been sprawling tent encampments on the edges of and within Gaza city, housing thousands of displaced, and these have been destroyed in the fresh military assault.
Addressing reservists at Nachshonim base, Zamir continued his his speech, “Hamas will have no place to hide from us. Wherever we locate them, whether they are senior or junior figures – we strike them all, all the time.”
He described, “We have already begun the Gaza maneuver. We are already entering places we have never entered before and operating there with courage, strength, valor, and an extraordinary spirit.”
The Gaza City assault is expected to worsen the Strip’s already horrific internal refugee crisis and food crisis, after the UN and various monitoring groups have confirmed famine in some sectors. Dozens if not hundreds of civilians have already died of starvation.
Interestingly, amid anti-Netanyahu protests in major cities and even near his personal residence, some Israeli reservists are revolting, intentionally failing to report for duty. Haaretz reported that some 350 Israeli reservists signed a statement opposing the takeover of Gaza City and renewed military assault there.
Massive blasts shook Gaza like an earthquake — 4 explosions in just 10 minutes east of Sheikh Radwan.
pic.twitter.com/p2yJ4WFc02— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) September 2, 2025
“The decision to launch a military operation for the complete occupation of Gaza City is blatantly illegal and will put hostages, soldiers and civilians at risk,” said Ron Feiner, a reservist and member of the organization Soldiers for the Hostages, as cited in Israeli media. “If we are called up for reserve duty, we will not report.”
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