The Israeli army issued a fresh evacuation order for a residential tower in Gaza City on Sunday ahead of a planned bombing of the high-rise building, a day after it issued a similar warning.
“The (army) will strike the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside or nearby,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a statement.
On Saturday, the military had issued a similar warning for the same building, the Al-Roya Tower, after the air force had demolished two other residential high-rises this week.
The Al-Roya Tower was not struck on Saturday.
READ ALSO: Israel Flattens Gaza City High-Rise As It Tells Residents To Flee
“For your safety, you must evacuate the building immediately and move south toward the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi” area of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the army spokesman added.
The warning came as the Israeli army pushed inside Gaza City in a bid to step up pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“We are deepening the manoeuvre on the outskirts of Gaza City and within Gaza City itself,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers at the start of a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Israel has not publicly announced the start of a major offensive to seize Gaza City, which Netanyahu’s cabinet approved last month, but troops have intensified bombings and operations in the area for weeks.
The Israeli military has claimed that the two high-rises flattened in recent strikes were used by Hamas to “monitor” Israeli troops — an accusation denied by the Palestinian group.
AFP
