TEHRAN – Israel is pressing forward with its full-scale ground invasion of Gaza City following a period of intense bombardment, sparking widespread international backlash.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army initiated a long-threatened ground offensive in Gaza City, deploying tanks and remote-controlled armored vehicles loaded with explosives into the streets.

Israeli troops and tanks pushed deeper into the city on Wednesday, as Palestinians fled in large numbers from the devastated area.

Israel said air force and artillery units had struck Gaza City more than 150 times in the days leading up to the ground operation. The strikes have toppled high-rise towers in areas densely populated by displaced families living in temporary camps.

The Israeli army says hundreds of thousands have fled south from Gaza City. At the end of August, the UN estimated that about one million people, that account for about half of the Gaza population, lived in the city and surrounding areas. Since the ground offensive began, dozens more Palestinians have been killed, bringing the total death toll from Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, which started in October 2023, to more than 65,000. The actual number is believed to be higher, with thousands buried in Gaza’s ruins after nearly two years of relentless bombardments.

The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza surpassed 65,000, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. 
Israel’s ground offensive comes despite international criticism and a UN commission’s finding that the regime has committed acts amounting to genocide in the Palestinian enclave.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the “systematic destruction” of Gaza City on Tuesday. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the offensive would worsen conditions in the enclave. “It will mean more death, more destruction, and more displacement,” she wrote on X.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it “firmly opposes Israel’s escalation of military operations in Gaza and condemns all acts that harm civilians and violate international law,” spokesman Lin Jian stated. 

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called the assault “an extension of the war of genocide against the brotherly Palestinian people.”

Saudi Arabia also condemned Israel’s offensive, criticizing the international community for failing to take effective measures to end what it described as violations of international and humanitarian law.

French lawmaker Mathilde Panot, head of the left-wing La France Insoumise party’s parliamentary group, called Israel’s attack “not a war but a genocide” and urged France to impose sanctions or risk accusations of complicity.

Pope Leo XIV highlighted the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, describing their living conditions as “unacceptable” amid forced displacement. “I express my deep solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands,” he said. 

Israel’s army stated that the Gaza City offensive could take “several months” to complete, marking the first timeline given for the operation in the besieged territory’s largest population center.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive aims to “defeat the enemy (Hamas) and evacuate the population.” However, critics say the statement omits any mention of securing the release of the remaining Israeli captives—a key stated objective of the war. Families of captives protested near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem (al-Quds) on Tuesday, accusing him of abandoning the captives. 

Since the war began nearly two years ago, Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Hamas and free Israeli captives, but neither goal has been fully achieved. Dozens of captives taken during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel still remain in Gaza.