Israeli army destroys new high-rise tower in Gaza City after evacuation warning

The Israeli army destroyed the multi-story Tiba 2 residential tower in western Gaza City on Wednesday, killing two Palestinians and injuring several others, witnesses and medics said.

The strike came shortly after the army ordered thousands of residents and displaced people to evacuate the site and move south toward a designated humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis.

Witnesses told Anadolu that Israeli warplanes struck the building with multiple missiles shortly after the evacuation order, despite the presence of large numbers of tents for displaced families in the surrounding area.

The attack displaced thousands of people who had been sheltering in the tower and nearby tents.

Medical sources told Anadolu that two Palestinians were killed and others wounded in the strike on the densely populated neighborhood, as residents scrambled to evacuate and left their belongings behind.

The Al-Mawasi area has been repeatedly bombed by the Israeli army during the war, despite being designated a “safe zone,” killing hundreds of civilians sheltering there. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in dire humanitarian conditions in the overcrowded strip of land.

The tower is the seventh high-rise building to be destroyed in Gaza City in the past five days, part of a campaign that has left tens of thousands of families homeless.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to demolish more residential towers in Gaza City and to “destroy the enclave and Hamas” unless Israeli captives were released and weapons surrendered.

The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 64,600 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.