<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Israeli military began a ground offensive targeting Gaza City on Tuesday, slowly squeezing in on the Palestinian territory's largest city that has seen block after block already destroyed in the Israel-Hamas war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The push marks yet another escalation in a conflict that has roiled the Middle East as any potential ceasefire feels even further out of reach despite months of diplomacy.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/dr-elise-turner-claims-she-was-asked-to-leave-virgin-airport-lounge-melbourne-for-pumping-breastmillk/82385555-7b25-4d25-a883-364bd353a0d6" target="_blank"><strong><span>Airline says sorry to 'furious' mum for booting her out of Aussie lounge</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While the military wouldn't offer a timeline for the offensive, Israeli media outlets suggested it could take months.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” while independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/human-rights-experts-join-rising-chorus-that-accuses-israel-of-genocide-in-gaza/6eddafda-3877-47ca-b8ae-cf5d70142481" rel="" target="" title="announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza"><span>announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza</span></a><span>, joining a rising international chorus of such accusations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel fiercely rejected the claim, calling the experts' report “distorted and false."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/israels-military-says-its-expanded-operation-in-gaza-city-has-begun-and-warns-residents-to-leave/01538b26-a233-4d16-bdd7-069e7d89b728" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel and arrived in the energy-rich nation of Qatar for talks with its ruling emir whose country is still incensed over Israel’s strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit on Monday but stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel's conduct.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/riverstone-gas-leak-sydney-death-police/5abf28d3-cf8a-46e9-a303-e93870eb0017" target="_blank"><strong><span>One dead, cops injured after gas leak at Sydney restaurant</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Egypt, however, escalated its language against Israel, referring to it as the “enemy” for the first time in years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“We have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen,” Rubio said. “It's a key moment — an important moment.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Rubio said "a negotiated settlement" still remains the best option while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever,” Rubio said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/anthony-heraghty-super-retail-rebel-bcf-supercheap-auto/d35af5ef-29dd-4f7c-8290-9cedd70b7595" target="_blank"><strong><span>Boss of $3.9 billion Aussie retail giant sacked over workplace relationship</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Katz had signaled earlier in the day the operation in Gaza City had begun.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Gaza is burning,” he said. "We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said that the “main phase” of the Gaza City operation had begun, with troops moving in from the city's outskirts toward its centre.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for some time in the leadup to the operation, knocking down towers in the city.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The official said the Israeli military believes there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the militant group.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The military estimates 350,000 people have left Gaza City — saying it was about one-third of the city's population before the new ground offensive started.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That contradicted a UN estimate issued on Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An estimated one million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>At least 20 Palestinians killed in Gaza City</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The city's Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighborhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility in recent hours.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/centrelink-payments-changes-2025-new-rates-september-20-everything-to-know-explained/7ad1411a-7f1e-4e0d-b1dd-c1dd45803dd6" target="_blank"><strong><span>Millions of Aussies to get a cash boost as Centrelink payments increase</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The bombing did not stop for a single moment,” he said. “There are still bodies under the rubble.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Israeli military did not respond to immediate requests for comment on the strikes but in the past has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Overnight, families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence, pleading with him to stop the Gaza City operation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some pitched tents and slept outside his home in protest.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I have one interest — for this country to wake up and bring back my child along with 47 other hostages, both living and deceased, and to bring our soldiers home," Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza, shouted outside Netanyahu's residence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“If he stops at nothing and sends our precious, brave, heroic soldiers to fight while our hostages are being used as human shields — he is not a worthy prime minister,” Zangauker.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel believes around 20 of the 48 hostages still held by the militants in Gaza, including Matan, are alive.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hamas has said it will only free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefires brokered in part by Qatar or other deals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, says women and children make up around half the dead.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Egypt escalates its rhetoric against Israel</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Egypt, which has had a peace deal with Israel for decades and has served as a mediator in the war in Gaza, appears to be losing its patience with Israel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Egypt's president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, described Israel as “an enemy” in a fiery speech at the Qatar summit on Monday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It was the first time an Egyptian leader used the term since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, said Diaa Rashwan, head of Egyptian government's State Information Service.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Egypt was the first Arab country to establish ties with Israel and their peace treaty is seen as a cornerstone for stability in the volatile region.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“Egypt is being threatened,” Rashwan told the state-run Extra News television late Monday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>El-Sissi's “enemy” comment played prominently across Egyptian newspapers' front pages on Tuesday and while Cairo has taken no steps to change its status with Israel, the Egyptian government likely is trying to signal just how seriously it takes Israel's recent actions.</span></div></div>