Israel & GAZA: 1) Canada says Israel’s ‘horrific’ Gaza City offensive puts hostages in greater danger; 2)Israel’s military says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun and warns residents to leave; 3) Israel’s military begins its ground offensive in Gaza City and thousands of residents flee
1) Canada says Israel’s ‘horrific’ Gaza City offensive puts hostages in greater danger
Source The Associated Press
By Melanie Lidman, Jon Gambrell And Samy Magdy
After a night of heavy airstrikes, the Israeli military announced Tuesday that its expanded operation in Gaza City “to destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure” has begun and warned residents to move south.
Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adree announced the expansion of Israel’s operation on X, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people.
Israel has been warning the famine-stricken Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month ahead of the operation but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in Gaza’s south and the high price of transport.
Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that “Gaza is burning” as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel for Qatar, where he planned to meet with officials there still incensed over Israel’s strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.
While Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday, they stopped short of any major action targeting Israel, highlighting the challenge of diplomatically pressuring any change in Israel’s conduct in the grinding Israel-Hamas war.
Rubio, speaking to journalists before his departure, suggested the offensive on Gaza City had begun.
“We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen,” Rubio said. “We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks so it’s a key moment — an important moment.”
“Our preference, our No. 1 choice, is that this ends through a negotiated settlement,” he added, while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza.
“The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever,” Rubio said. “At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out.”
Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows
After weeks of threatening an expansion of the Israeli military operation in Gaza City, Katz signalled it had begun.
“Gaza is burning,” he said early on Tuesday morning. “The (Israel military) is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.”
The United Nations estimated on Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings.
At least 20 Palestinians killed in Gaza City
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning.
The city’s Shifa Hospital said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in a strike that hit multiple houses in a western neighbourhood, with another 90 wounded arriving at the facility in recent hours.
“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press
“The bombing did not stop for a single moment,” he said. “There are still bodies under the rubble.”
The Israeli military did not respond to immediate requests for comment on the strikes but in the past has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas, especially in Gaza City.
Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation
Overnight, families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, pleading with him to stop the Gaza City operation.
Some pitched tents and slept outside his home in protest.
“I have one interest — for this country to wake up and bring back my child along with 47 other hostages, both living and deceased, and to bring our soldiers home,” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held in Gaza, shouted outside Netanyahu’s residence.
“If he stops at nothing and sends our precious, brave, heroic soldiers to fight while our hostages are being used as human shields — he is not a worthy prime minister,” Zangauker.
Israel believes around 20 of the 48 hostages still held by the militants in Gaza, including Matan, are alive.
Both Netanyahu and Rubio said on Monday that the only way to end the conflict in Gaza is through the elimination of Hamas and the release of the hostages, setting aside calls for an interim ceasefire in favour of an immediate end to the conflict.
Hamas has said it will only free remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefires brokered in part by Qatar or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, says women and children make up around half the dead.
2) Israel’s military says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun and warns residents to leave
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Dylan Robertson, September 17, 2025
Ottawa is calling Israel’s latest ground offensive in Gaza City “horrific” and says it’s making the release of hostages still held by Hamas less likely.
Israel escalated its bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. It says it is targeting what used to be the most populated city in the territory so that it can prevent Hamas from launching further attacks.
The military escalation has met with widespread international condemnation as the Palestinian territory grapples both with famine and with Israel’s efforts to move civilians in the enclave toward the Egyptian border.
“Israel’s new ground offensive in Gaza City is horrific. It worsens the humanitarian crisis and jeopardizes the release of the hostages,” says a Global Affairs Canada post on the platform X.
“The Government of Israel must adhere to international law. Canada stands with international partners in urging an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid and the release of all hostages.”
Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed replied to the Tuesday posting by saying his country is “consistently adhering to its obligations under the international conventions” and pointing to an Israeli military website.
“Horrific is the consistent neglect of (Global Affairs Canada) to mention the fact that the Israeli hostages are held in the utmost inhumane conditions by Hamas in Gaza. For well over 700 days,” he wrote.
Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed Monday he will proceed with plans to recognize Palestinian statehood. While the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada called last month for the matter to be debated in Parliament, no party has tabled a motion on Palestinian statehood this week.
In a Monday readout of a virtual meeting on the Middle East that was chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron, Carney’s office said he “reiterated Canada’s intent to recognize the State of Palestine in advance of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly” next week.
The readout noted that Canada has made this move conditional on the Palestinian Authority committing to reforms and general elections next year in the West Bank — elections in which “Hamas can play no part.”
Neither Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre nor his party’s foreign policy critic have issued a statement on the Israel-Hamas war this week.
NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said Tuesday he questions whether Carney will follow through on affirming Palestine statehood.
“I still have doubts as to whether the Carney government will move forward with this position,” he said in French at a press conference. “The Liberal government doesn’t have the courage of other governments.”
Canadian and foreign activists have held a series of press conferences on Parliament Hill this week to urge Ottawa to state that Israel is carrying out a genocide and to impose tougher measures against Israel.
A team of experts commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council concluded Tuesday that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has rejected that report.
The report cited Israel’s president saying there are no innocent civilians in Gaza and Israeli policies that prevent births and forcibly transfer people.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday that a determination of whether Israel is committing genocide should be based on a thorough legal process where parties can “make submissions based on evidence.”
“This is not just an emotional question, but also a legal one,” he told reporters.
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand convened Arab ambassadors in Ottawa to discuss how to best work toward a ceasefire in Gaza and the resumption of humanitarian aid.
Anand said last week that “we are evaluating the relationship with Israel” — a comment that attracted notice in Israeli media. Anand has not explained what that evaluation might entail.
Anand’s comment came after Israel conducted a strike on Qatar last week targeting Hamas officials who were in Doha for ceasefire talks with Israel.
Bloc Québécois foreign affairs critic Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe is calling on Ottawa to impose sanctions on Israel after the European Union announced plans to slap tariffs on some Israeli goods.
“The painful and intolerable images coming out of Gaza must elicit a strong response from the Canadian government,” he wrote in a French-language statement.
“While Gaza burns, while tens of thousands of women, men, children and families are forced to move.”
At a conference in Toronto organized by the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz this past weekend, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin lamented the growing political polarization over the conflict.
“Word-policing has really trivialized and stunted our ability to talk about finding a path to peace,” she said Sunday. “It’s too easy to lose someone after a few words.
“Even this many thousands of kilometres away from Israel and Palestine, Canadians with differing points of views are having too hard of a time coming together, to listen and to learn and to test ideas. And that’s a tremendous loss.”
3) Israel’s military begins its ground offensive in Gaza City and thousands of residents flee
Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press
By Melanie Lidman, Jon Gambrell And Samy Magdy, September 16, 2025
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, threatening to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of raids and bombardment. Vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings clogged a coastal road as thousands of Palestinians fled, but hundreds of thousands more remain.
The operation into the largest Palestinian city further escalates a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The military wouldn’t offer a timeline for the offensive, which it says aims to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure,” but Israeli media suggested it could take months.
It began the same day that independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report “distorted and false.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” as the operation began. Heavy bombardment battered the city overnight and into the morning.
One woman, Saud al-Sakani, said her daughter, son-in-law and their children were killed in a strike that flattened their home with about 40 people inside. “An entire family!” she cried, weeping over their bodies at Shifa Hospital’s morgue. “Many are still under the rubble.”
On a brief visit to the region, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that there was a “very short window of time in which a deal can happen” to end the war.
Israel also bombed Yemen’s port city of Hodeida in response to drone and missile fire from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Palestinians flee Gaza City
Israeli forces have carried out multiple large-scale raids into Gaza City over the course of the war, causing mass displacement and heavy destruction, only to see militants regroup later. This time, Israel has vowed to take control of the entire city, which experts say is experiencing famine.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said that the “main phase” of the Gaza City operation had begun. Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for weeks, knocking down several high-rises.
The official said the Israeli military believes there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the militant group. Hamas’ military capabilities have been vastly diminished over nearly two years of war, and nowadays it mainly carries out guerrilla-style attacks, with small groups of fighters planting explosives or attacking military outposts before melting away.
Ismail Zaydah, 39, said he fled from his home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood to an area near the coastal road. He said trucks carrying people south to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone charge around $1,000, even as many families in Gaza City are starving.
“We fled with nothing but a few pieces of clothing. People are pitching their tents in western Gaza City, and they are sleeping among human waste because there is no place for them to go,” he said.
An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the Gaza City region before warnings to evacuate began ahead of the offensive, and the Israeli military estimates 350,000 people have left the city.
A U.N. estimate on Monday, however, said that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month.
By the end of the current operation, an Israeli military graphic suggested its troops hope to control all of the Gaza Strip except for a large swath along the coast.
At least 69 Palestinians killed in Gaza City
Palestinian residents reported heavy strikes across Gaza City on Tuesday morning, with hospitals in the city saying there were at least 69 deaths.
“A very tough night in Gaza,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, told The Associated Press. “The bombing did not stop for a single moment.”
Several women gathered at the hospital’s morgue, where AP footage showed many dead in body bags.
Shifa received the bodies of 49 people, including 22 children, according to Dr. Rami Mhanna, a hospital official, who said dozens of wounded had also come into the facility. Al-Ahli Hospital received 17 bodies, and Al-Quds three.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the deadly strikes but in the past has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Forty-eight hostages, fewer than half believed to be alive, remain in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, says women and children make up around half the dead.
Families of hostages beg Netanyahu to halt the operation
Overnight, families of the hostages still being held in Gaza gathered outside of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence, imploring him to stop the offensive.
“Netanyahu gave the order to bomb my child,” said Anat Angrast, whose son is held in Gaza. “He knows that Matan is in immediate danger due to the Gaza operation, yet he decided to bomb him to death. He is the only one who will decide whether Matan lives or dies.”
Israel believes around 20 of the hostages are alive. Hamas has said it will only free remaining captives in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
On a visit to Israel, Rubio suggested that there might still be time for a negotiated end the war.
“At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation,” he said. “But I think time, unfortunately, is running out.”
He continued on to Qatar, where he met with its ruling emir. Qatar is incensed over an Israeli strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.
Rubio thanked Qatar, which has been a key negotiator in efforts to reach a ceasefire, for playing that role, according to a statement from his office, which did not directly acknowledge the Israeli strike. He also highlighted the countries’ close ties.
Arab and Muslim nations denounced the strike at a summit Monday but stopped short of any major action targeting Israel.
Egypt escalates its rhetoric against Israel
Egypt, which has had a peace deal with Israel for decades and has also served as a mediator in the war, appears to be losing its patience.
Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, described Israel as “an enemy” in a fiery speech at the Qatar summit Monday. It was the first time an Egyptian leader used the term since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, said Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service.
Egypt was the first Arab country to establish ties with Israel and their peace treaty is seen as a cornerstone for stability in the volatile region.
El-Sissi’s “enemy” comment played prominently across Egyptian newspapers’ front pages on Tuesday and while Cairo has taken no steps to change its status with Israel, the Egyptian government likely is trying to signal just how seriously it takes Israel’s recent actions.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Munich, Germany, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.