Today, as Israel was found by the UN to be carrying out official genocide—not just war crimes—the ground phase of Israel’s “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II” began. The Israel Defense Forces announced that two divisions had begun pushing into the heart of Gaza City, with two regular divisions operating in the surrounding area. It said a third division would join the operation in the coming days.
Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X: “They will surround Gaza City on all sides... Gaza is burning. The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely….” This morning, the brazen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to be excused from testimony in his corruption trial due to the “important things happening.” He declared that the IDF “has begun an intensive operation in Gaza City…. We have launched a significant operation in Gaza.”
An Israeli security official told reporters yesterday that 650,000 or so people remain in Gaza City. The narrative is that they have places prepared for them in southern Gaza—but the reality is that the tent cities are overcrowded, underfed, and disease-ridden. And the means of getting there are woefully inadequate.
