Residential towers targeted by the Israeli military; Gazans do not leave their city.
The transformation of Gaza’s residential towers into a military target began with Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz’s statement that “a storm is shaking the residential towers of Gaza.”
In recent days, residential towers in western Gaza have been bombed to the point where they have often been razed to the ground. The attacks have focused on the western areas of Gaza City, known as the “high towers,” stretching from the al-Sinaa area to Tel al-Hawa.
Last week, the Israeli army gave residents of the al-Ruya commercial tower in the al-Jaama’a area in western Gaza the opportunity to evacuate, after they had been asked to do so, and then fired several missiles at the site.
The 16-story tower contained 120 units, including residential units, offices for media and legal institutions, and the headquarters of commercial companies. Before that, Israel had razed a seven-story building containing 40 residential units in the southwest of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, which meant that 30 residential apartments were destroyed, leaving about 300 people homeless.
Before that, the occupiers bombed the Al-Susi residential tower, one of the most famous buildings in Gaza; a tower with 15 floors and more than 600 units, where at least 600 people lived.