Israel declares Gaza City 'Combat Zone'; Help groups remain set, refuse to be hungry as the death toll is over 63,000

Israel on Friday declared the largest city of Gaza a dangerous combat zone and found the remains of two hostages when the army launched the ‘initial stages’ of a planned offensive that showed international condemnation. While the military announced the resumption of fighting, health officials said the death toll in Gaza had risen to 63.025, with 59 new deaths reported by hospitals over the past 24 hours. Help groups and an ecclesiastical shelter from people said they would stay in the city in Gaza and refuse to abandon the hungry and displaced people who depend on them. The shift comes weeks after Israel announced plans for the first time to increase its offensive in the city, where hundreds of thousands of sheltered while facing famine. Over the past few days, the army has raised strikes in neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. Farm smoking and thundering explosions could be seen and heard on Friday morning in the south of Israel. Israel called Gaza City a fortress of Hamas, in which it claims that a network tunnels remain in use by militants after a few previous large -scale attacks on the area during nearly 23 months of war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that Hamas’s ability in the city is critical to protecting Israel from a repetition of the attack on October 7, 2023 which set fire to the war. While United Nations Agency and Auxiliary Groups condemned the announced beginning of the offensive, people in Gaza City said it was little difference: strikes had already increased and the help they had achieved was insufficient. Mohamed Abou Hadi said it makes no difference. “The slaughters never stopped, not even during the humanitarian breaks,” he said in an SMS sent from Gaza City. More than 63,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the war, Gaza Ministry of Health said Friday. The score of the ministry – 63.025 – does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. It is also said that five people have died of malnutrition -related causes over the past 24 hours, increasing the toll to 322, including 121 children, since the start of the war. The ministry is part of the Hamas-managed government and is manned by medical experts. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source of war cases. Israel disputes its figures, but did not provide its own. Some refuse to leave as the assault of Gaza City begins to face international criticism, Israel last month, which called it “tactical breaks” in Gaza City, aimed at letting more food and help. The breaks included a suspension of fights from 10am to 8pm, although auxiliary groups said deliveries remained challenging due to blockade, looting and Israeli restrictions. Afternoon, the army said it suspended breaks, which were the latest escalation after weeks of preparatory strikes in some of the city’s neighborhoods and called up tens of thousands of reservists. “We will strengthen our strikes until we bring back all the abducted hostages and take Hamas apart,” said Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adrae. Adraee, the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesman, urged Palestinians in Gaza City for days to flee south and call evacuation “inevitably”. The UN said on Thursday that 23,000 people had evacuated over the past week, but many Palestinians in Gaza City say they are exhausted for multiple displacements and the question that leaves when there is nowhere safe and that any journey is expensive. The Holy Family Church of Gaza City told The Associated Press on Friday that the approximately 440 people who hide there will remain with members of the clergy who would help them. Farid Jubran said the church left the decision to the people, although they had few professions to isolate themselves from battles. “If we experience danger, people get closer to the walls or whatever, it’s more protected,” he said, saying the church has little specific defense. The UN Humanitarian Agency said its staff and NGOs would also remain on the ground. Help groups say they were not notified, as Israel suspended in the city of Gaza on Friday, the military did not say whether they had notified residents or auxiliary groups from the approaching statement before the announcement of 11:30. Norwegian Refugee Council, which coordinates a coalition of assistant groups active in Gaza, said he did not receive notice that Israel’s “tactical breaks” would be suspended. The UN said the beleaguered strip could lose half of its hospital in hospital on Thursday during an extensive assault on Gaza City. “We cannot provide health services to 2 million people being besieged in the south,” said Zaher Al-Wahidi, a spokesman for the Gaza Ministry of Health, noting a compelling evacuation of the largest city of the strip would be an environmental and health camp. The suspension of the break also comes a week after the world’s leading food security authority declared that Gaza City was seized by famine after months of warnings. The remains of hostages that Israel repaired on Friday said that the army had left the remains of two hostages – Ilan Weiss and another left the remaining. “The campaign to return the hostages is going on. We will not rest or remain silent until we return all our hostages home – both the living and the dead,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Weiss, 55, was killed in the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the communities near Gaza who stormed Hamas-led militants on October 7. For the families of hostages, the return of their remains meets a central question and brings a closure, but is also a reminder of the hostages living in Gaza. “At least they closed,” said Rubi Chen, whose son was abducted during the attack on October 7 and was apparently dead. “There are still 49 families waiting to have the closure.” Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants, nearly 50 remain in Gaza, including 20 that Israel is apparently alive. Israel’s hostages and missing families forum, which arranged large -scale protests to demand a ceasefire to return the hostages, mourned the losses, saying that Israeli leaders should prioritize an agreement to return the living as well as the dead.