The Israeli military \u201cannounces the opening of a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din street\u201d, spokesperson Avichay Adraee<\/strong> said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Adraee added that \u201cthe route will be open for 48 hours only\u201d.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Israel unleashed its long-threatened ground offensive in Gaza City<\/a>, sending tanks and remote-controlled armoured cars packed with explosives into its streets, in defiance of international criticism and the findings of a <\/a>UN<\/a><\/strong> commission that it was committing genocide in the Palestinian territory<\/a>. Israel\u2019s<\/strong> foreign ministry<\/strong> rejected the commission\u2019s report as \u201cdistorted and false\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military said that it expects its Gaza<\/a> City offensive to take \u201cseveral months\u201d to complete, marking the first timeline it has given for its plan to take control of the territory\u2019s largest population centre.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a><\/strong>, said the goals of the offensive were \u201cdefeating the enemy and evacuating the population\u201d, omitting any mention of the freeing of the remaining Israeli hostages, which was been a constantly stated war aim until now. Hostage families and their supporters protested near Netanyahu\u2019s Jerusalem<\/strong> residence on Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning their loved ones.<\/p>\n The UN secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/strong>, said it was clear that Israel had no interest in a peaceful outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael is determined to go up to the end and [is] not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire, with dramatic consequences from Israel\u2019s point of view,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n More on this story in a moment. Here are other recent developments:<\/p>\n The health ministry in Gaza reported on Tuesday afternoon that 59 people had been killed and 386 wounded in the previous 24 hours, bringing the official toll of Palestinians from nearly two years of war to almost 65,000.<\/strong> The actual number is feared to be significantly higher.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n On Wednesday, the European Commission is due to present a plan to member states to impose \u201cmeasures to pressure the Israeli government to change course over the war in Gaza\u201d, said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.<\/strong>\u201cIsrael\u2019s ground offensive in Gaza will make an already desperate situation even worse,\u201d Kallas said, adding: \u201cIt will mean more death, more destruction [and] more displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Iranian authorities hanged a man on Wednesday after convicting him of spying for Israel\u2019s the Mossad intelligence agency since 2022, the judiciary said. <\/strong>\u201cBabak Shahbazi \u2026 was executed by hanging this morning following due legal process and the confirmation of his sentence by the supreme court,\u201d the judiciary\u2019s Mizan Online news website said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n SBS has indicated it will not follow the lead of a growing number of European Union countries and boycott next year\u2019s Eurovision<\/a> song contest if Israel is permitted to compete. <\/strong>The decision on Israel\u2019s inclusion will be made by the contest\u2019s governing body in December, but SBS told the Guardian on Tuesday it intended to participate in the 2026 event in Vienna, regardless of December\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy<\/a>, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a \u201clifeline\u201d programme for evacuating Palestinian writers, scholars and artists from Gaza. <\/strong>The Pause<\/a> programme for writers and artists in emergency situations, as well as a student evacuation programme, were abruptly suspended by the French government at the beginning of August over a Palestinian student\u2019s allegedly antisemitic online remarks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.09 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Israel says struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since Tuesday<\/p>\n The Israeli<\/strong> army said it has struck more than 150 targets in Gaza<\/strong> City<\/strong> since launching a major ground offensive on the Gaza<\/strong> Strip<\/strong>\u2019s main urban hub early on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past two days, the [Israeli air force] and artillery corps troops struck over 150 terror targets throughout Gaza<\/a> City in support of the manoeuvring troops in the area,\u201d the military said in a statement issued on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).<\/p>\n Gaza\u2019s civil defence agency<\/strong>, a rescue force operating under Hamas<\/strong> authority, said on Wednesday morning that Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 12 Palestinians overnight. However, Gaza hospital officials said on Wednesday that 16 people, including women and children, were killed overnight on the territory.<\/p>\n The army told AFP it was looking into the Gaza civil defence agency\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The UK<\/strong> government has announced that a group of ill and injured children have been evacuated to Gaza<\/strong> and brought to the UK for NHS<\/strong> medical treatment.<\/p>\n According to the PA news agency, the UK health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting<\/strong>, said:<\/p>\n No one can fail to be distressed by the devastating impact the war has had on the children of Gaza, and I cannot imagine the fear and anguish their families have endured. It is a soul-destroying situation that compels us to act.<\/p>\n Every child deserves the chance to heal, to play, to simply be able to dream again. These young patients have witnessed horrors no child should ever see, but this marks the start of their journey towards recovery.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper<\/strong> added:<\/p>\n In Gaza, where the healthcare system has been decimated and hospitals are no longer functioning, there are severely ill children unable to get the medical care they need to survive.<\/p>\n As we welcome the first group of children to the UK for urgent treatment, their arrival reflects our determined commitment to humanitarian action and the power of international cooperation.<\/p>\n We continue to call for the protection of medical infrastructure and health workers in Gaza, and for a huge increase in medicines and supplies to be allowed in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n China<\/strong> said on Wednesday it \u201cfirmly opposes\u201d the escalation of military operations in Gaza<\/strong> after Israel<\/strong> launched a major ground assault on Gaza City<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cChina firmly opposes Israel\u2019s escalation of military operations in Gaza<\/a> and condemns all acts that harm civilians and violate international law,\u201d foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian<\/strong> said of the massive bombardment of Gaza City, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Israeli strikes overnight kill at least 16 across the Gaza Strip<\/p>\n Gaza<\/strong> hospital officials said on Wednesday that women and children were among the 16 killed in overnight on the territory, reports the Associated Press (AP). <\/p>\n More than half of the dead were killed in strikes on Gaza City<\/strong>, including a child and his mother at their apartment in the Shati refugee camp<\/strong>, according to officials from the al-Shifa hospital<\/strong>, which received the casualties.<\/p>\n A mourner during the funeral of Palestinians killed in overnight strikes, according to medics, at al-Shifa hospital, Gaza City. Photograph: APAImages\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n In central Gaza, the al-Awda hospital<\/strong> said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp<\/strong>, killing three, including a pregnant woman. Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi<\/strong> area west of the city of Khan Younis<\/strong>, said officials from the Nasser hospital<\/strong>, where the bodies were brought.<\/p>\n The Israeli military did not immediately respond to the AP\u2019s requests for comment on the strikes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.30 EDT<\/p>\n Qatar\u2019s ministry of foreign affairs<\/strong> released a statement on Wednesday saying they condemned \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d Israel<\/strong>\u2019s ground offensive in Gaza<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The ministry wrote on X that the operation marked an \u201cextension of the war of genocide\u201d against the Palestinians <\/strong>and a \u201cflagrant violation of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n In its statement Qatar\u2019s ministry of foreign affairs said:<\/p>\n The ministry of foreign affairs warns that the Israeli occupation is seeking to undermine the prospects for peace in the region through systematic plans that pose a threat to both regional and international peace and security. These include its brutal genocidal war on Gaza, as well as its settlement, colonial and racist policies based on a logic of arogance, agression, and treachery.<\/p>\n This situation requires decisive international solidarity to compel it to comply with international legitimacy resolutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.11 EDT<\/p>\n More than 350,000 Palestinians so far have fled south from Gaza City, say Israeli military<\/p>\n The United Nations<\/strong> estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza<\/strong> City<\/strong> and its surroundings.<\/p>\n Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists say thet have observed a fresh exodus in recent days, and the Israeli<\/strong> army said on Wednesday that \u201cmore than 350,000\u201d had so far fled south. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify these figures.<\/p>\n Many Palestinians<\/strong> interviewed by AFP in Gaza insist there is no safe place in the territory and say they would rather die in their homes than be displaced yet again.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, people spoke of relentless bombing in Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n Only huge piles of rubble remained of a residential block in the north of the city hit by Israel\u2019s bombardment, reports AFP.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts?\u201d Abu Abd Zaquout<\/strong> told AFP. \u201cWe pulled the children out in pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had launched a major ground operation in Gaza City to oust Hamas<\/strong> from one of its last strongholds in the war-ravaged territory.<\/p>\n The Israeli military estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants in central Gaza City, and that about 40% of residents have fled.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.52 EDT<\/p>\n AFP have a bit more detail on the Israeli<\/strong> military\u2019s \u2018temporary\u2019 route for Palestinians<\/strong> to flee Gaza City <\/strong>(see 7.48am BST<\/a>).<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening \u201ca temporary transportation route\u201d via Salah al-Din street<\/strong>. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee<\/strong> said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (9am GMT) on Thursday.<\/p>\n Until now, the army had urged residents to leave Gaza<\/strong> City<\/strong> via the coastal road towards what it calls a \u201chumanitarian zone\u201d farther south, including parts of al-Mawasi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Salah al-Din street runs down the middle of the Gaza Strip<\/strong> from north to south.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.26 EDT<\/p>\n Aid groups call for stronger efforts to stop Israel’s Gaza City offensive<\/p>\n A coalition of leading aid groups on Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel\u2019<\/strong>s offensive on Gaza City<\/strong>. It also highlighted findings by a commission of UN<\/strong> experts that found Israel<\/strong> was committing genocide in Gaza<\/strong>.<\/p>\n According to the Associated Press (AP), the statement read:<\/p>\n What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN commission of inquiry has now concluded is a genocide.<\/p>\n States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The message was signed by leaders of more than 20 aid organisations operating in Gaza<\/a>, including the Norwegian Refugee Council<\/strong>, Anera<\/strong> and Save the Children<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.07 EDT<\/p>\n The bombardment of Gaza<\/a> City<\/strong> has been growing louder and more deadly for weeks, but in the early hours of Tuesday it felt like an earthquake that would never stop.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when the bombings are not right next to us, we can clearly hear them, and the ground shakes beneath us with the intensity of the explosions,\u201d said Fatima al-Zahra Sahweil<\/strong>, 40.<\/p>\n Sahweil, a media researcher, said the dead and wounded from the night\u2019s barrage had been taken to al-Shifa medical complex<\/strong>, where she heard the situation was \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.<\/p>\n She had lost track of the latest news, however, as she tried to make the near-impossible decision of what to do to best protect her four children.<\/p>\n The Rashid coast road<\/strong>, the Israeli-designated \u201cescape\u201d route to the south, was jammed with the exhausted and desperate. Anyway, the cost of a ride was too high.<\/p>\n Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza along the coastal road toward the south on Tuesday. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana\/AP<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of that, I don\u2019t own a tent to give us shelter, and they are too expensive to buy. I would not be able to take all of the belongings and supplies I have already bought several times before,\u201d Sahweil said. \u201cThen there is the suffering we would face in searching for water and the lack of empty spaces to stay in. So if I leave, I would simply be going into the unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n Like more than 90% of people in Gaza<\/strong>, the family has been displaced by the war. An overwhelming majority have been forced to move numerous times. Sahweil and her family have already been displaced 19 times.<\/p>\n Now, with the launch of a ground offensive, the Israeli<\/strong> army is calling on the estimated 1 million people sheltering in Gaza City to move south once more. But Sahweil and her family, and many others, have been to the south before and are aware it is no haven from violence.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Israel announces \u2018temporary\u2019 route for residents to flee Gaza City<\/p>\n Israel<\/strong> announced on Wednesday a \u201ctemporary\u201d new route for residents to flee Gaza City<\/strong>, as it launched an intense ground offensive after massive bombardment of the Palestinian<\/strong> territory\u2019s main city.<\/p>\n The Israeli military \u201cannounces the opening of a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din street\u201d, spokesperson Avichay Adraee<\/strong> said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Adraee added that \u201cthe route will be open for 48 hours only\u201d.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Israel unleashed its long-threatened ground offensive in Gaza City<\/a>, sending tanks and remote-controlled armoured cars packed with explosives into its streets, in defiance of international criticism and the findings of a <\/a>UN<\/a><\/strong> commission that it was committing genocide in the Palestinian territory<\/a>. Israel\u2019s<\/strong> foreign ministry<\/strong> rejected the commission\u2019s report as \u201cdistorted and false\u201d.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military said that it expects its Gaza<\/a> City offensive to take \u201cseveral months\u201d to complete, marking the first timeline it has given for its plan to take control of the territory\u2019s largest population centre.<\/p>\n Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza along the coastal road toward the south, as Israel announced an expanded operation in Gaza City. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana\/AP<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a><\/strong>, said the goals of the offensive were \u201cdefeating the enemy and evacuating the population\u201d, omitting any mention of the freeing of the remaining Israeli hostages, which was been a constantly stated war aim until now. Hostage families and their supporters protested near Netanyahu\u2019s Jerusalem<\/strong> residence on Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning their loved ones.<\/p>\n The UN secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/strong>, said it was clear that Israel had no interest in a peaceful outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael is determined to go up to the end and [is] not open to a serious negotiation for a ceasefire, with dramatic consequences from Israel\u2019s point of view,\u201d Guterres said.<\/p>\n More on this story in a moment. Here are other recent developments:<\/p>\n The health ministry in Gaza reported on Tuesday afternoon that 59 people had been killed and 386 wounded in the previous 24 hours, bringing the official toll of Palestinians from nearly two years of war to almost 65,000.<\/strong> The actual number is feared to be significantly higher.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n On Wednesday, the European Commission is due to present a plan to member states to impose \u201cmeasures to pressure the Israeli government to change course over the war in Gaza\u201d, said the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.<\/strong>\u201cIsrael\u2019s ground offensive in Gaza will make an already desperate situation even worse,\u201d Kallas said, adding: \u201cIt will mean more death, more destruction [and] more displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Iranian authorities hanged a man on Wednesday after convicting him of spying for Israel\u2019s the Mossad intelligence agency since 2022, the judiciary said. <\/strong>\u201cBabak Shahbazi \u2026 was executed by hanging this morning following due legal process and the confirmation of his sentence by the supreme court,\u201d the judiciary\u2019s Mizan Online news website said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n SBS has indicated it will not follow the lead of a growing number of European Union countries and boycott next year\u2019s Eurovision<\/a> song contest if Israel is permitted to compete. <\/strong>The decision on Israel\u2019s inclusion will be made by the contest\u2019s governing body in December, but SBS told the Guardian on Tuesday it intended to participate in the 2026 event in Vienna, regardless of December\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sally Rooney, Deborah Levy<\/a>, Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen are among 20 authors urging French president Emmanuel Macron to resume a \u201clifeline\u201d programme for evacuating Palestinian writers, scholars and artists from Gaza. <\/strong>The Pause<\/a> programme for writers and artists in emergency situations, as well as a student evacuation programme, were abruptly suspended by the French government at the beginning of August over a Palestinian student\u2019s allegedly antisemitic online remarks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n![\"Displaced](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8640.jpg\")
Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza along the coastal road toward the south, as Israel announced an expanded operation in Gaza City. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana\/AP<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Malak](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Malak_A_Tantesh.jpg\")
Malak A Tantesh<\/p>\n\n