Updates: Israel ‘burning the ground’ in Gaza City assault, thousands flee

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Read more about the relentless Israeli air strikes on Gaza City and the start of the ground invasion here.

Find out more about Israel’s latest strikes on Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah here.

And you can always find all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

This live page will close soon. But before we go, here’s a recap of the day’s events:

• The Israeli military killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza, the vast majority in besieged Gaza City, destroying at least 17 homes and residential buildings and a mosque since the early hours of the morning.
• A large number of Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles were shown to be advancing towards Gaza City, with the Israeli army saying a third division will soon join the ground invasion.
• An independent UN inquiry found that Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza is a genocide, and Israel responded by calling it “fabricated”.
• Israeli soldiers killed two young Palestinians with live bullets, and shot and wounded another in separate incidents amid ongoing raids across the occupied West Bank, during which at least 40 people were detained.
• The Houthis in Yemen claimed responsibility for launching two ballistic missiles at Israel after Israeli warplanes bombed the port city of Hodeidah, and officials promised more attacks.
• France urged a halt to the Israeli attacks as the European Union is set to decide on suspending the trade section of the bloc’s cooperation agreement with Israel.
• Thousands of Israelis protested in Jerusalem and marched from the residence of Benjamin Netanyahu to his office, as families of captives demanded their release through a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has raised the alarm about Israel’s invasion of Gaza City.

“We must stop funding this genocide,” he wrote in a social media post.

“Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in Gaza City. “They will have to flee again or risk being killed. This is what [former] Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meant when he said ‘we will eliminate everything’ in Gaza.”

The UN Commission of Inquiry, which today concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, underscored in its report that countries across the world have a responsibility to stop the Israeli atrocities.

The report said the International Court of Justice’s ruling in January 2024 that found it plausible that Israel was committing genocidal acts in Gaza put “all states on notice”.

“As such, the duty to prevent genocide was triggered due to the actual or constructive knowledge of the immediate plausibility that genocide was being or was about to be committed,” it said.

“According to the International Court of Justice, where State Parties are able to contribute to the prevention of genocide, they are obligated to ’employ all means reasonably available to them, so as to prevent genocide so far as possible.’ Responsibility may be incurred if a State Party ‘manifestly failed to take all measures to prevent genocide which were within its power, and which might have contributed to preventing the genocide’.”

Several Western countries, including the US and Germany, continued to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic support after the ICJ ruling.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says Congress has a moral and legal obligation to stop the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza after the UN Commission of Inquiry’s report that concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

“The world can no longer look away. The evidence of genocide in Gaza is overwhelming, and now it has been confirmed by a United Nations investigation. The Israeli government has acted with clear intent to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.

“We call on members of Congress to immediately recognize this genocide, condemn it in the strongest possible terms, and act to suspend all military aid to the Israeli government. Our nation cannot continue using American taxpayer dollars to fund what every know [sic] is a genocide, whether they admit it or not.”

Congress authorises billions of dollars in military aid to Israel annually.

The Palestinian-American congresswoman calls for action against Israel after the UN Commission of Inquiry’s report confirmed that the Israeli military is carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

“As the apartheid regime accelerates its destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the UN has concluded what we’ve already known: Israel, with full US support, is committing genocide in Palestine,” she wrote in a social media post.

“Boycott, Divest, Sanction. An arms embargo is the bare minimum. Free Palestine.”

Israeli forces pressed deeper into Gaza City after launching a ground assault before dawn, unleashing a massive overnight bombardment.

“No matter how long it takes, we will operate in Gaza,” army spokesman Effie Defrin said, as fighting raged in the enclave’s largest urban hub.

Watch below to learn more:

France’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned the expansion and intensification of the Israeli ground, air and naval offensive in Gaza City.

It urged Israel in a statement to stop its “destructive campaign” in the city, which Israel has said it plans to seize and conquer over the next several months.

“France calls on Israel to end this destructive campaign, which no longer has any military logic, and to resume negotiations as soon as possible,” Paris said.

It also urged Israel to “immediately lift all restrictions imposed on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, so as to allow for its immediate, massive, and unhindered delivery”.

تحركات عسكرية إسرائيلية على حدود غزة مع تصاعد العمليات#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/otUoVNgE39

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) September 16, 2025

Translation: Israeli military movements on the Gaza border amid escalating operations.

Israeli military forces stormed the city of Tubas and the village of Tayasir in the occupied West Bank, patrolling the area.

Local sources told Wafa news agency that another incursion took place into the town of Idhna and the city of Hebron, where a number of Palestinians and their vehicles were detained, with one man severely beaten by Israeli soldiers.

At the entrance to Fawwar camp south of Hebron, Israeli forces destroyed a number of Palestinian civilian vehicles parked in the area, which is now closed with an iron gate. The footage below shows soldiers storming a town in Jenin.

#شاهد| قوة راجلة من جيش الاحتلال تقتحم بلدة برقين غرب جنين pic.twitter.com/MwFPw87ZTH

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) September 16, 2025

Translation: A foot patrol from the [Israeli] army storms the town of Burqin west of Jenin.

Democratic US Senator Chris Coons, who has been a staunch supporter of Israel, voices opposition to the Israeli plan to seize Gaza City.

“Netanyahu’s ground invasion of Gaza City is a dangerous mistake that will worsen the tragic humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Coons, a close ally of former US President Joe Biden, wrote in a social media post.

“I will always stand for Israel’s right to self-defense, but this move risks thousands of innocent lives and only makes the return of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire harder to achieve.”

A platform focused on Palestinian affairs in Europe has released footage of a demonstration in the Italian city of Milan in support of Gaza:

At least 40 people were detained by Israeli forces today during raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, which said Israeli soldiers also conducted field interrogations.

The monitor said in a statement that three of the young Palestinians who were among five detained at dawn in Qalqilya have now been released, as were some of the others held during raids in other cities. But the bodies of the two Palestinians shot and killed during the Qalqilya attacks are still being held by Israeli authorities.

The organisation confirmed that during a raid in Ramallah, Israeli soldiers brought with them female detainee Hana al-Baydaq during a raid on her apartment, and also arrested her husband before later releasing him. The footage below shows the raid.

اعتقلها قبل أيام وأحضرها معه.. مشاهد من اقتحام جيش الاحتلال منزل الناشطة الأسيرة "هناء البيدق" واعتقال زوجها في رام الله التحتا اليوم pic.twitter.com/LP6MsLX2yh

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 16, 2025

Families of captives held in Gaza have organised another demonstration aimed at the prime minister, who they accuse of refusing a ceasefire in favor of escalating military attacks on the enclave.

They condemned Benjamin Netanyahu and praised Donald Trump for his promises to bring back all the captives.

“Our Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening to our cries to save the hostages and end this war – but he will listen to you! Bring him to the table for a deal that will bring everyone home!”, the families said in a statement read out in English.

Hostage family members and protesters are now marching from the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem toward his office, where he will hold a press conference.

Credit: Tanya Zion-Waldoks pic.twitter.com/7EH148q84K

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) September 16, 2025

The progressive US congresswoman says the UN Commission of Inquiry’s report that concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza makes it clear that people in the territory are going through the “deliberate destruction of Palestinians”.

The UN report makes plain what so many families in Gaza have been living through: the deliberate destruction of Palestinians.

We have a moral responsibility to stop enabling this genocide and hold Israel accountable. https://t.co/t3eNTwn4ay

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) September 16, 2025

The IfNotNow Movement says in addition to endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, the Israeli military’s push into Gaza City “spells almost certain death” for the remaining Israeli captives.

“Today’s ground invasion of Gaza City, the latest step of Israel’s genocide, is a chillul hashem, a desecration of G-d’s name,” IfNotNow executive director Morriah Kaplan said in a statement.

“With just days until Rosh Hashanah [the Jewish new year], we watch in horror as the Israeli military bombs and invades Gaza City, putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in mortal danger.”

German police have once again arrested pro-Palestinian protesters in the capital, Berlin, as the Israeli army intensifies deadly attacks in Gaza.

Activists shared video clips on social media platforms showing scenes from the protest gathering, with demonstrators chanting against Israel’s genocide and famine, including banners that read, “Stop the starvation war”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ryad Aref (@ryad.aref)

The Israeli prime minister appears to deny Israeli and US media reports saying that the US president had advanced knowledge of the strikes against Qatar last week.

“I made the decision with the cabinet to operate in Qatar,” Netanyahu said. “It was my responsibility, and we did not involve the White House. I had several conversations with Trump after the attack, and they were all good.”

The Yemeni group says it fired two hypersonic missiles against Israel, hours after the Israeli military said it intercepted one missile fired from Yemen.

“Silence over this horrific and heinous crime will only encourage the enemy to continue its attacks against all Arab and Islamic countries and as we have previously warned, this brutal, criminal aggression will spread to various countries unless peoples and states mobilize to stand firm and confront it,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement.

“We will continue to fulfill our duties until the aggression against Gaza stops and the blockade is lifted.”

Earlier today, Israel launched air strikes targeting the port in the coastal Yemeni city of Hodeidah.