Early in the war against Hamas, as Israeli forces pushed south from the northern Gaza Strip, a neighborhood in Gaza City called Shujaiya loomed large in the battle. In December, nine soldiers were killed there in what the Israeli military described as one of the bloodiest days of the war for its forces.
Later, after the occupation forces destroyed the Shujaiya neighborhood, and calm seemed to prevail in Gaza City, the soldiers moved, and eventually transferred the fighting to the city of Rafah, located in the far south of Gaza, which was described as the last major stronghold of Hamas. In contrast, Palestinian civilians who fled the fighting in Gaza City began to return to their homes.
On Thursday, they fled again.
Israel ordered residents of part of eastern Gaza City to evacuate their homes, as Palestinian officials and residents reported heavy airstrikes and several casualties. Residents described frantic efforts to get out of the area as explosions rang out around them. Palestinian officials said the strikes hit the Shujaiya neighborhood.
Source: Israeli military statements
Written by Lian Abraham and Veronica Penny
Muhammad Al-Bahrawi (65 years old), who returned with his family to their home in Shujaiya months ago, said, “We were hearing explosions from every direction,” and added that a “stream” of people rushed to the place.
“I couldn’t believe that so many people were still in Shuja’iya,” Al-Bahrawi said.
The Israeli army said it could not immediately comment on the raids. The Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the army was conducting a ground operation to root out Hamas based on intelligence information indicating that the armed group had begun to resume control of the neighborhood.
The operation, if confirmed, would be part of a larger pattern of warfare in which Israel is struggling to achieve its stated goal: eliminating Hamas, which organized and led the October 7 attacks on Israeli territory that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israeli forces have repeatedly found themselves returning to parts of Gaza they had previously left, especially in the north, with Hamas regrouping amid the chaos of the nine-month war. The fighting broke out even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a new, less intense phase.
In Israel and globally, frustration is growing over what critics say is Netanyahu’s failure to put forward a plan for how to govern Gaza if Hamas is defeated.
The key to defeating a counterinsurgency is known by the acronym “clear, hold, build,” said Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.
Byman said the Israelis “thought about day one — killing the bad guys — but they didn’t focus on the next steps. This was unjustified even in October and November. Now the excuses have greatly diminished.”
Gaza health authorities said Thursday that 15 people were killed and dozens wounded in Shujaiya. The Palestinian Civil Defense emergency service said five homes were hit in Shujaiya and another neighborhood and that a search was underway for the missing. The toll could not be independently verified.
Mohammed Qaraqe, a researcher with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, who was in Shujaiya, witnessed what he described as artillery shelling, airstrikes and drone fire. He also said he saw Israeli tanks on the eastern edge of Gaza City.
“The tanks have made limited advances so far on the outskirts of the neighborhood,” he said Thursday afternoon. He added that by then most people had left the area.
In October, Israeli forces invaded northern Gaza, taking over the area and advancing south, capturing Hamas strongholds but failing to decisively defeat the militant group. Shejaiya, one of Gaza City’s largest neighborhoods, is home to a battalion considered one of the most powerful in Hamas’s military wing. It is unclear how large a presence Hamas has there now.
Seth Krumrich, a retired U.S. Army colonel and vice president of Global Guardian, an international security services company, said Israel was suffering because it had failed to come up with a plan to govern Gaza.
“They have a much bigger problem than they have now,” Mr. Kromerich said. “The real problem is trying to fix Gaza and make it stable in the future.”
Mira Novick He contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
