Image Credit: JACK GUEZ / Contributor / Getty 
On Tuesday Israel launched the ground-war stage of its Gaza City takeover operation, part of an expansion referred to as “Operation Gideon Chariots” put in motion by the Jewish state’s “War Hero” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August. Over the last several weeks air strikes on Gaza City took place as a prelude to Tuesday’s ground invasion.
“They will surround Gaza City on all sides,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Embed from Getty ImagesThis picture taken from a position at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli military vehicles by the border fence in the besieged Palestinian territory on September 16, 2025. Israel unleashed a massive new bombing campaign on Gaza City on September 16 after visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the ally’s goal of eradicating the Palestinian Hamas movement and warned that only days may be left for a diplomatic solution. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
🚨⚡️ عـاجـل:
— الموجز الروسي | Russia news 🇷🇺 (@mog_Russ) September 16, 2025
12 غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت 3 أرصفة في الميناء سلسلة انفجارات في مدينة الحديدة اليمنية. pic.twitter.com/20pvgdgR3J
The IDF said it had “begun destroying Hamas infrastructure in Gaza City,” on Tuesday morning. Interestingly, it appears that the “Hamas infrastructure” comprises the vast majority, if not all of Gaza City’s infrastructure.
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty ImagesGAZA CITY, GAZA – SEPTEMBER 16: Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes hit the Gaza Strip as Israel’s attacks continue, leaving behind widespread destruction, seen from the border area, on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT – This picture taken from a position at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing amid Israeli bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory on September 16, 2025. Israel unleashed a massive new bombing campaign on Gaza City on September 16 after visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the ally’s goal of eradicating the Palestinian Hamas movement and warned that only days may be left for a diplomatic solution. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
At least 63 people were killed in the recent strikes, with the total killed in Israel’s nearly two-year war on Gaza coming in at around 65,000.
Embed from Getty ImagesGAZA CITY, GAZA – SEPTEMBER16: 11-year-old Palestinian Marah Haddad, who is trapped under rubble after an Israeli strike targeted a residential area in Sheva Square, is rescued by civil defense teams after nearly 10 hours of efforts and transferred to the Baptist Hospital for treatment on September 16, 2025, in Gaza City, Gaza. (Photo by Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In a move sure to empower the Islamic will to fight, the Jewish state destroyed the al-Aybaki Mosque in Tuffah, an eastern suburb of Gaza City.
قصف مسجد الأيبكي في غزة.. آخر ما تبقى من مساجدنا..
— Mohammed Haniya (@mohammedhaniya) September 16, 2025
أيها المسلمون…
بيوت ربكم تُهدم وأنتم تواصلون صمتكم الفاخر!
وغزة تُناديكم.. لا بمال ولا بسلاح،
بل بموقفٍ يُشبه إيمانكم إن تبقّى منه شيء.
اللهم إنهم يرون، ولا يتحرّكون… pic.twitter.com/cPze3QQKzF
It has been reported that Israel is killing those who flee the bombing.
Embed from Getty ImagesGAZA CITY, GAZA – SEPTEMBER 16: An Israeli attack targets a vehicle carrying displaced Palestinians and their belongings, killing five and injuring many more in al-Katibah of Gaza City, Gaza on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Gaza City is the central hub of Hamas’s military and governing power – their main stronghold. Hamas has turned Gaza City into the largest human shield in history”
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) September 16, 2025
🎥WATCH: BG Effie Defrin on the expanded ground activity in Gaza City. pic.twitter.com/W8k9rRCZnO
“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday morning. “The (Israel military) is striking with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and soldiers are fighting heroically to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas. We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.”
Embed from Getty ImagesGAZA CITY, GAZA – SEPTEMBER 16: Smoke rises from an area following Israeli army’s attacks in Gaza City, Gaza on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
🇺🇸🇮🇱⚔🇵🇸 Massive explosions shake Gaza City by the Israeli occupation
— dana (@dana916) September 16, 2025
stayfreeworld pic.twitter.com/jSR6MVgGtw
“The bombing did not stop for a single moment,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa Hospital, said. “There are still bodies under the rubble.”
Embed from Getty Imagesتصاعد الدخان جراء استهدافات وتفـ"جير روبوتات مفخخة لتدمير المنازل في حيي تل الهوى والرمال بمدينة غـ"زة.. pic.twitter.com/oi4WLtAQMD
— فلسطين بوست (@PalpostN) September 16, 2025
TOPSHOT – This picture taken from a position at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing amid Israeli bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory on September 16, 2025. Israel unleashed a massive new bombing campaign on Gaza City on September 16 after visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed the ally’s goal of eradicating the Palestinian Hamas movement and warned that only days may be left for a diplomatic solution. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force announced the Jewish state will also be attacking Yemen, again.
“Israel has confirmed it launched an attack against Yemen’s port of Hodeidah in its latest round of strikes against the country, which it says is targeting the Houthis,” Aljazeera said. “Dozens of Yemeni civilians have been killed in these ongoing Israeli strikes.”
“We see the piling up of war crime after war crime after war crime, of crime against humanity, and potentially even more,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk told reporters, adding that evidence of Israeli genocide in Gaza is “mounting.”
On Tuesday the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel alleged Israel is committing genocide.
In Response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the UN report fake, but also said the authors were working as Hamas’ proxies.
In response to the Pillay, Sidoti and Kothari Commission of Inquiry’s fake report: Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions — and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide — released today another fake “report” about Gaza. The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked, including in an independent, in-depth academic study by BESA, which refuted every single false claim regarding genocide. Needless to say, the three authors made no attempt to address the clear findings of the BESA study. In stark contrast to the lies in the report, Hamas is the party that attempted genocide in Israel — murdering 1,200 people, raping women, burning families alive, and openly declaring its goal of killing every Jew. Miraculously, all three authors of this fabricated report have recently resigned. They should not be replaced. Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn response to the Pillay, Sidoti and Kothari Commission of Inquiry’s fake report:
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 16, 2025
Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions — and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide — released today another fake…
GAZA CITY, GAZA – SEPTEMBER 17: Palestinians flee with their belongings loaded on vehicles and carts as others walk along Rashid Street towards the south of Gaza, following intensified Israeli airstrikes and evacuation orders in the northern areas of the enclave in Gaza City, Gaza on September 17, 2025. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
48 Israeli hostages are believed to remain in Gaza under the captivity of Hamas. Some of their family members took up camp outside of Netanyahu’s residence.
“Following reports of tank incursions and massive bombardments in Gaza City, hostage families, terrified for their loved ones’ fate, spontaneously gathered in the late-night hours outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on Azza Street in Jerusalem, crying out for the rescue of their loved ones and all hostages,” the group said in a statement.
💥In the middle of the night hostages' families set up camp in front of the prime minister's residence, and now say they will not budge. Hamas survivors Ilana Gritzewsky and Arbel Yehoud, whose partners, Ariel Cunio and Matan Zangauker, remain in captivity.
— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) September 16, 2025
(Tanya Zion-Waldocks) pic.twitter.com/DLfxVEvvFk
“From Hamas, we need only two things, and it will not give them voluntarily: to release all the hostages and to disarm. The great force of the attack here… is directly defeating Hamas, and it also creates a larger lever for the release of the hostages,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said during a visit to the headquarters of the 162nd Division, whose forces are operating in Gaza City. “We want to take control of Gaza City because today it is Hamas’ main governing symbol. Today, if Gaza falls… they will fall… They will pay the price and Gaza will be destroyed.”
President Donald Trump issued a statement saying Hamas is now using the Israeli hostages as human shields against Israel’s attack.
KHAN YUNIS, GAZA – SEPTEMBER 17: Palestinian families forced to flee Gaza City due to Israeli attacks sit on roads, searching for shelter in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, Gaza, on September 17, 2025. (Photo by Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
“We must clearly understand that Israel does not serve a religion, but a perverted ideology,” he told reporters upon returning from Qatar. “Netanyahu and his gang are telling the world the fictitious tales of Zionism… Scenarios created on the basis of the concept of the ‘promised land’ are legally invalid and devoid of legitimacy. Those who rule Israel are nothing more than a gang of murderers who have turned their radical views into a fascist ideology. In this regard, Netanyahu is ideologically practically akin to Hitler.”
The European Commission “proposes suspension of trade concessions with Israel and sanctions on extremist ministers of the Israeli government and violent settlers” over Netanyahu’s conquest of Gaza City.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper staunchly criticized Israel’s actions as well.
The new IDF assault on Gaza is utterly reckless and appalling. It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages. We need an immediate ceasefire, all hostages released, unrestricted humanitarian aid and a path to lasting peace.
The new IDF assault on Gaza is utterly reckless and appalling.
— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) September 16, 2025
It will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages.
We need an immediate ceasefire, all hostages released, unrestricted humanitarian aid and a path to lasting peace.
“Spain has summoned Israel’s acting ambassador in Madrid for the second time in a week over remarks by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar directed at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez,” RT said. “On Monday, Sanchez called for Israel to be banned from international sporting events over its actions in Gaza. Saar responded on X, calling the Spanish leader an ‘antisemite and a liar’.”
Embed from Getty ImagesDisplaced Palestinians move with their belongings southwards on a road in the Nuseirat refugee camp area in the central Gaza Strip following renewed Israeli evacuation orders for Gaza City on September 16, 2025. Israel launched its long-anticipated ground assault on Gaza City at dawn on September 16, a day after winning backing from its top ally the United States despite mounting international alarm. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP) (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)
Netanyahu appears to have realized the world has largely turned against Israel due to their ongoing genocide of Gaza. Speaking on Sunday, the Israeli leader said the Jewish state must prepare to be isolated from foreign military aid.
“We will increasingly have to adapt to an economy with autarkic features. I believe in free markets, I worked to bring Israel a free-market revolution. But we may find ourselves in a situation where our defense industries are blocked,” Netanyahu said. “We will have to develop domestic defense industries. We will have to become Athens and super-Sparta. We have no choice. At least in the coming years, we will have to deal with these attempts at isolation. What worked until now will not work from now on.”
"The Israel Lobby Is Trying To Hijack The Memory & Identity Of Charlie Kirk!"
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) September 17, 2025
No- I Don't Think They Killed Him, But They Are Definitely Trying To Take Ownership Of The Person Of Kirk https://t.co/GhsXY002dJ pic.twitter.com/9Lb9lGYCFf
