Israel's Defence Minister approved plans to conquer Gaza City on August 20, calling up around 60,000 reservists. On the same day, Israel announced it had taken the first steps of a military operation to seize the city, which the UN estimates is home to one million people.
Residents reported relentless bombardments the night of August 20-21, which followed a surge in strikes on the city in the preceding days. On August 20, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, stated it had recorded 54 attacks on residential buildings and city blocks since August 8, which resulted in the deaths of 87 Palestinians. The UN agency also reported attacks on shelters for internally displaced people, which killed at least 14. "This indicates that the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already under way," the statement read.
Israeli strikes have heavily targeted the Al-Zeytoun neighbourhood in the southeastern part of Gaza City.
The aftermath is visible in videos shared online, which show multi-story buildings completely destroyed, streets choked with rubble, and smoke rising from the ruins.
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Camps abandoned
“As a result of recent attacks, hundreds of families have been forced to flee,” the UN stated on August 20.
As reported by British outlet Sky News, satellite imagery of Gaza City reveals the recent and sudden emptying of multiple tent camps, which were home to internally displaced civilians.
A Planet Labs image from August 9 shows more than 200 tents in the Al-Zeytoun neighbourhood. A subsequent image taken just 10 days later shows only a dozen remaining.
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Buildings flattened
Satellite imagery confirms that Gaza City has experienced additional widespread destruction in early August, including in areas near displaced persons camps. This new damage adds to the already extensive damage in the city, which was 74% destroyed as of July 2, according to an analysis by researchers Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon University.
Dozens of buildings were flattened in Gaza City's southeastern neighbourhoods in early August.
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On August 22, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, vowed to destroy Gaza City if Hamas did not agree to disarm, release all the hostages, and end the war on Israel's terms.
He warned that Gaza City was at risk of becoming another Rafah or Beit Hanoun, referencing two other Gazan cities that were largely razed during previous Israeli operations.
‘I will be displaced once again, fleeing from death’
The Israeli army said it has initiated preparations for the evacuation of Gaza City.
The Israeli Defence Forces’ Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, stated on August 21 that they have begun making preliminary warning calls to medical authorities and international organisations in northern Gaza, with the objective of "preparing to move the population from Gaza City southward for their protection".
Abdulaziz lives in Gaza City, where the IDF dropped leaflets with evacuation orders on August 20. He spoke with our team that same day:
“A new evacuation order was issued in the area where I live, east of the Abu Iskandar area [in the north of Gaza City]. Like my neighbours, I am hoping for news that will reverse the evacuation order, but unfortunately, all the news says that we must leave our homes and go south to Deir al-Balah [in the centre of the enclave] and Al Mawasi of Khan Younis [in the south of the enclave], as the Israeli army says.”
“The situation is very dangerous. The air strikes are very intense. Since last night until now, they have not stopped. I do not know what the coming hours will bring. My expectation is that I will leave my house, I will be displaced once again, fleeing from death, fleeing from killing, fleeing from the violent air strikes that do not distinguish between civilian and military."
Since the end of a two-month ceasefire on March 18, Israel has issued dozens of evacuation orders, severely restricting the area for Gaza's more than two million inhabitants.
In an August 20 statement, the UN highlighted the "dire humanitarian conditions across the Gaza Strip", stating that there is "nowhere safe to go". While the Israeli army frequently directs residents to the Al-Mawasi camp, in the south of the enclave, the UN has warned that Israel has "repeatedly struck tents of the displaced" there.
On August 22, the UN officially declared a famine in Gaza City and its surrounding area.
‘We just want a chance to live’
For many Gazans, this would just be the latest in a long series of displacements. Mohammed, a resident of Gaza City, told our team:
“At the start of the war two years ago, I fled northern Gaza to seek refuge in the south of the Gaza Strip. When I returned to Gaza City in January 2025, after the fighting there ended, I began repairing what was left of my house, much of which had been destroyed. Then the fighting resumed, and we were forced to flee what remained of our home in northern Gaza to the west.
I can no longer bear the burden of exile, displacement, and deportation, nor of living under the open sky beneath a sky filled with aircraft that do not distinguish between a child and a woman. I can no longer bear hunger and thirst.
We need real protection for civilians. We don't want to die; we just want a chance to live. I am a defenceless civilian. I am no longer able to resist or endure this hell. Israel's threats to completely invade the Gaza Strip mean that we are all condemned to death.”
New vehicle tracks
In addition to its ongoing air campaign, the Israeli military is preparing for a ground incursion.
A Telegram post from the IDF’s spokesperson on August 20 stated that "forces from the 162nd Brigade are fighting on the outskirts of Gaza City". Israel claims that the city is Hamas's final stronghold.
Satellite images show recent construction and the widening of several roads linking the Israeli border to the southeastern part of the city, suggesting the movement of troops and heavy equipment.
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Sky News' digital investigation also found multiple military vehicles, including bulldozers, near the site of a former camp.
The UN emphasizes that international law forbids Israel from destroying civilian property unless absolutely necessary for military operations, adding that the “widespread destruction of residential buildings in Gaza City is not seen as an imperative military necessity".
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