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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Israel strikes high-rises in Gaza City, ahead of cabinet meeting to | |
discuss risk of ground operation to hostages | |
By Ibrahim Dahman, Eugenia Yosef, Tim Lister, Eyad Kourdi, Oren | |
Liebermann, Mostafa Salem, CNN | |
Updated: | |
3:59 AM EDT, Mon September 15, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The Israeli military struck multiple high-rise buildings in on Sunday, | |
after warning people to leave several neighborhoods, in the latest | |
round of destruction since Israel ordered a complete evacuation of the | |
city. | |
Israel’s assault on Gaza City appeared to be accelerating, with the | |
military issuing evacuation orders for several towers in Gaza City | |
within just a few hours Sunday morning. | |
The strikes come ahead of a meeting called by Israeli Prime Minister | |
Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss efforts to avoid harming the in Gaza when | |
the Israeli military undertakes a ground operation planned to take | |
control of Gaza City, according to a source familiar with the matter. | |
The meeting on Thursday will be attended by the Israeli foreign and | |
defense ministers as well as the leadership of the Israeli military and | |
security services, the source said. There are thought to be about 20 | |
hostages still alive in the enclave, some of whom are believed to be in | |
Gaza City. | |
Two Israeli officials told CNN on Sunday that the Israeli military | |
ground operation into Gaza City is set to start in the coming days. | |
“It’s getting very close,” one of the officials said, while the | |
second said it could begin as soon as Monday. | |
At least 10 United Nations buildings have been hit in Gaza City in the | |
past 4 days, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine | |
Refugees (UNRWA) Commissioner-General said in a Sunday. | |
“No place is safe in Gaza” and “no one is safe” following the | |
“intensifying” Israeli airstrikes in the city and north of Gaza, | |
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said. | |
The 10 buildings include seven schools and two clinics “used as | |
shelters for thousands of displaced people,” Lazzarini added. | |
Al Kawthar – an 11-story building near Gaza’s port – was hit | |
Sunday, one of several high-rises that have been destroyed or severely | |
damaged by Israeli strikes since the IDF extended operations into Gaza | |
City earlier this month and ordered nearly a million people in the area | |
to head south. | |
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was being used by Hamas to | |
observe the movements of Israeli troops in the area. It said that | |
before the strike, “steps were taken in order to mitigate harm to | |
civilians, including advanced warnings to the population, the use of | |
precise munitions (and) aerial surveillance.” | |
Hours later, after another warning was posted on X by the Israeli | |
military, a multi-story building in Gaza City was struck but not | |
demolished. The high-rise, known as al Mohna Tower, is in the Tel | |
al-Hawa neighborhood. | |
Another building at the Islamic University in Gaza was struck and | |
destroyed by several missiles, according to images and video from the | |
scene. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted a video of the | |
strikes targeting the six-story building on X, saying: “The | |
‘Islamic’ University in Gaza is going up in smoke. Eliminating the | |
sources of incitement and terrorism.” | |
More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since | |
Saturday, according to numbers provided by hospital officials. | |
At least six Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an | |
Israeli strike west of Gaza City early Monday, where displaced | |
Palestinians are sheltering, according to health officials. A separate | |
airstrike targeting a home in Gaza city killed two children, they | |
added. | |
Al Shati camp in Gaza City was also targeted late Saturday, as Israeli | |
strikes intensified. Videos of the aftermath show a large fire had | |
broken out in an area where people were sheltering. | |
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been left homeless after the Israeli | |
military intensified its action in the city over the past week, the | |
Gaza Civil Defense said in a statement on Thursday. Israeli forces have | |
destroyed more than 130 residential buildings in the enclave’s | |
largest city over the same period, according to Civil Defense. | |
CNN has recorded the destruction of at least a dozen high-rise | |
buildings in central Gaza since September 5. | |
The Palestinian health ministry said Sunday that 64,871 people had been | |
killed in Gaza since Israeli military operations began after Hamas’ | |
attack on Israel in October 2023 – and 164,610 had been injured. | |
Israel’s escalating assault on Gaza City came as US Secretary of | |
State Marco Rubio arrived in the country for discussions about the war | |
and the hostages. On Sunday, he visited the Western Wall in the Old | |
City of Jerusalem with Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel Mike | |
Huckabee. | |
Rubio is scheduled to officially meet Netanyahu on Monday. The Israeli | |
leader is expected to raise his government’s potential West Bank | |
annexation plans with Rubio, according to three Israeli sources. | |
Also on Monday, the leaders of several Arab and Islamic countries are | |
expected to attend an emergency summit in Doha as a show of support to | |
Qatar, after Israel conducted a earlier this week. | |
Rubio will visit Doha on Tuesday following his visit to Israel, a | |
diplomat with knowledge of the visit told CNN. | |
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said | |
Sunday that the Israeli strikes will “not deter” it from continuing | |
“sincere efforts” to mediate an end to the war in Gaza. | |
“The barbaric and demagogic practices of Israel will not deter us | |
from continuing to make sincere efforts with Egypt and the United | |
States to stop this unjust war,” Al Thani said. | |
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