As Israeli occupation forces intensify threats of a full-scale reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, the Zeitoun neighborhood, one of Gaza City’s largest neighborhoods, is enduring a sustained and brutal assault marked by aerial and ground bombardment, home demolitions, and mass displacement. The bombing and shelling led to massacres targeting families who remained in their homes.
Located in southeastern Gaza City, Al-Zaytoun has been subjected to 22 months of continuous bombardment as part of Israel’s genocidal campaign, leaving entire residential blocks in ruins.
Israeli forces have seized parts of the neighborhood, particularly in the eastern zone, under the pretext of establishing “buffer zones” that extend deep into the Strip.
The southern edge of Zeitoun borders Wadi Gaza, an area under Israeli control where Palestinian access is heavily restricted, except for limited and tightly controlled aid distribution.
Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli army chief approved the “central concept” of a plan to reoccupy Gaza, including a renewed offensive on Zeitoun, which the military confirmed began on Tuesday.
Over 300 Homes Destroyed
Gaza’s Civil Defense reported that Israeli forces have carried out concentrated attacks on Zeitoun over the past several days, using high-explosive munitions to demolish homes and inflict maximum destruction.
More than 300 homes have been leveled in just three days, with entire families killed as their residences were bombed without warning.
The military has targeted densely populated residential buildings, many exceeding five stories. Southern and eastern sections of the neighborhood are now under complete siege, with ongoing shelling and demolitions.
Civil Defense teams have been barred from entering the area to rescue the wounded or recover the dead, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis.
Reoccupation Strategy
The intensified assault follows the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to reoccupy Gaza in full, a move that has sparked internal dissent, with critics calling it a “death sentence” for Israeli captives held in the Strip.
Tensions have surfaced between Netanyahu and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who reportedly described the plan as a “strategic trap.”
The proposed strategy begins with the occupation of Gaza City, involving the forced displacement of nearly one million residents to the south, followed by encirclement and incursions into residential areas.
A second phase targets refugee camps in central Gaza, many of which have already been devastated by the ongoing genocide since October 7, 2023.
In contrast, Halevi has proposed an alternative “encirclement plan” involving multiple pressure points across Gaza.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that more than 14,800 patients in the Gaza Strip remain in urgent need of life-saving medical care that is currently unavailable within the besieged enclave.
On Wednesday, August 13, day 677 of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, the Israeli military has killed at least 100 people since dawn. Most of the casualties were crushed or exploded by Israeli bombs, while 38 were killed by Israeli snipers while seeking aid at the US corporate-run arenas. At least 2 died of starvation today, adding to an ever-increasing death toll that has now reached 235. This follows Tuesday’s bombardment, in which 73 Palestinians were killed.
Amid the ongoing blockade and closure of crossings, Gaza is facing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.235 people have died of starvation – nearly half of them children, and the vast majority of the starvation deaths have occurred since May 27th, 2025, when the US corporation GHF took over ‘aid distribution’, shutting down the existing aid distribution network of over 400 locations and replacing them with just 4 extremely chaotic, ‘Hunger Games’ style arenas where Palestinians are forced to fight each other for small scraps of food.
Since the onset of the genocide, Israel’s bombing of the coastal devastated enclave have resulted in the killing of at least 61,722 Palestinians, and more than 154,525 injuries, most of them children and women, alongside over 9,000 missing persons, hundreds of thousands displaced, in addition to the famine that has claimed 235 lives, including 106 children.
