Israel Officially Begins Gaza Erasure with Full Backing from Trump Administration
Gaza City (QNN)- The Trump administration has given full political cover to Israel’s attack on nearly one million civilians in Gaza City. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood firmly beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli forces escalated their assault to seize the city, even while massacres against civilians intensified.
On Friday, Israeli occupation forces began demolishing Gaza City’s high-rises. The destruction marked the first phase of Israel’s ground assault. The move came only hours after Rubio met Netanyahu and senior cabinet ministers in occupied Jerusalem. Rubio also attended a settler ceremony in a tunnel beneath the Palestinian village of Silwan, near Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The plan to occupy Gaza City has faced rare pushback from inside Israel’s security establishment. Israeli military Chief of Staff Gen. Eyal Zamir, along with the heads of Mossad, Shin Bet, and military intelligence, warned Netanyahu that the invasion would not defeat Hamas, would endanger Israeli soldier prisoners, and would entrench Israel as an occupying power over more than two million Palestinians.
The Captives’ Families Forum condemned the move. “The Prime Minister is consciously choosing to sacrifice them on the altar of political considerations,” the group said, warning that Israeli prisoners who survived Israeli bombardment are now at greater risk.
A US official confirmed that Washington has no plans to restrain Israel. This comes even as Trump continues to promise voters he will “end the Israeli war on Gaza.”
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Israel is using unconventional weapons to force Palestinians out of Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center.
Palestinians fear they will never be allowed to return.
The destruction has been staggering. Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal reported that within days Israel demolished 12 high-rise buildings holding 500 apartments, displacing more than 10,000 people. Another 120 medium-sized buildings were bombed, forcing out 7,200 more. Hundreds of other structures were partially destroyed, leaving 30,000 residents without homes.
Israel also destroyed 600 tents that sheltered displaced families, leaving 6,000 people in the open. Ten schools and five mosques were completely flattened. On Sunday, Israeli forces brought down Gaza’s tallest tower, the Al-Ghifari building.
Nearly one million Palestinians remain trapped inside Gaza City, according to Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Muneer Alboursh.
. The so-called “safe zones” are already overflowing, with no shelter left for the newly displaced.
Since Friday, Israeli attacks have killed at least 292 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Strip Hospitals Statistics Group, which compiles data from hospitals, journalists, the Red Crescent, and the Gaza Health Ministry.
