Israeli Forces Destroy Over 50 Buildings Across Gaza, Civil Defense Says
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israeli forces have destroyed more than 50 buildings across the Gaza Strip since Sunday morning, while another 100 buildings were partially damaged, including high-rises housing thousands of residents, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson said.
Mahmoud Basal noted that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting buildings surrounded by encampments of displaced people, and that more than 200 tents have been destroyed as a result of the bombing of adjacent buildings in the last 24 hours, in what he described as a “systematic” policy aimed at intensifying forced displacement.
He also said Israeli forces are targeting the remaining mosques and stadiums in Gaza City, and said Civil Defense crews received distress calls from citizens trapped under the rubble in an area in the Tuffah neighbourhood after a building was bombed.
On Saturday, Israeli forces flattened the Soussi Tower, a 15-floor building comprising tens of housing units and in front of the UN headquarters in Tal al-Hawa, without giving residents enough time to flee with their belongings. On the same street, there are also universities and an education centre.
It was one of the highest buildings in Gaza City and one of Gaza’s main features. This attack targeted a residential complex comprising three towers. One had been destroyed in 2024, and now the Israeli military has flattened the other two.
It is located near the Mushtaha Tower, which was also leveled on Friday.
The two buildings served as shelters for dozens of displaced Palestinian families in Gaza City.
The Israeli military claimed that the Soussi Tower it struck was being used by Hamas to gather intelligence to monitor the locations of the Israeli military.
It also claimed that the group had “planted numerous explosive devices near the building” intended to harm Israeli troops.
The Israeli military did not provide any evidence to support this claim, just as it failed to do after targeting the Mushtaha Tower yesterday.
It is Israel — a state that knows nothing but the making of death and destruction. pic.twitter.com/oBnAwDZbLl
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) September 5, 2025
What We Know?
Israel’s Defence Minister warned on Friday, “When the gate is opened, it will not be closed, and [Israeli military] activity will intensify” until Hamas accept Israel’s conditions for ending the war – led by the release of all the hostages and disarmament – or they will be destroyed.”
He said the military had issued a forced evacuation order for the Mushtaha Tower, a high-rise building in the west of Gaza City, which had been attacked and partially destroyed by Israeli forces earlier in the war.
“We start”, he wrote on X after destroying the Mushtaha Tower.
On Monday, Katz issued a threat to Gaza, warning that a “powerful hurricane” will hit the territory.
“Today, a powerful hurricane will strike the skies above Gaza City, and the roofs of the towers of terror will shake,” he wrote on X, adding “Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated.”
Israel’s Claims to Target High-Rise Towers
Shortly after, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee has claimed that the Israeli military will target several buildings in Gaza City over the coming days that he claims are being used by Hamas.
“Over the coming days, the [Israeli military] will attack several buildings that have been converted into terrorist infrastructure in preparation for expanding the operation into Gaza City: cameras, observation rooms, sniper and anti-tank missile launching positions, and command and control centres,” he said in a statement.
He alleged that Israeli intelligence had determined that Hamas is making use of several multistorey towers.
“In accordance with Hamas’s combat doctrine, the organisation has integrated intelligence gathering tools, cameras, sniper and anti-tank missile launching positions into these buildings, and in some, observation rooms and command and control centres have been established,” he said.
“In addition, Hamas’s underground infrastructure runs close to these buildings, with the aim of setting up ambushes against [Israeli] forces and providing potential escape routes from the headquarters located there.”
Targeting Mushtaha Tower
15 Minutes later, the 12-storey Mushtaha Tower was levelled to the ground by Israeli fighter jets. The tower was hit by multiple missiles that led to its full destruction.
The tower is surrounded by hundreds of makeshift tents, as this portion of the city is considered to be the last refuge for families fleeing areas of bombardment in the eastern outskirts.
Israel’s strike on the tower has left behind a trail of destruction and led to significant casualties among civilians, a number of whom have been transferred to al-Shifa Hospital for urgent medical treatment.
The Israeli military claimed that the multistorey building included “Hamas infrastructure” and was used to plan and carry out operations against Israeli forces.
The management of the Mashtaha Tower has denied the Israeli claims, adding the building was only accessible to displaced people.
Israeli Plan to Occupy Gaza City
The Israeli attacks and threats came as the military pushed deeper into Gaza City, forcing residents to flee amid intense bombardment as Israel approved plans to seize the City, despite international condemnation from the United Nations and states.
The plan reportedly involves forcing around one million residents southwards before surrounding the city and launching incursions into residential areas, followed by an expansion into refugee camps in central Gaza.
Critics and legal experts say that targeting high-rise buildings is a stark escalation of urban warfare that endangers the lives of hundreds of thousands of people taking refuge around them.
Not the First Time
Israel has frequently failed to provide evidence to back up its claims that Hamas is using civilian buildings for military purposes.
It has a track record of conducting hits on residential buildings and towers located within the Gaza Strip, one of the world’s most densely populated areas.
These actions, referred to by the Israeli army as “precision strikes” targeting resistance groups, frequently occur in densely inhabited areas and have resulted in civilian casualties.
Gaza’s civil defence agency denounced Israel’s latest strike on the multistorey tower, saying targeting high-rise buildings is a policy of forced displacement.
“Entire families are thrown into the open without shelter with no safe spaces to go to,” it said, adding the destruction robs Palestinians of their “right to survive and live with dignity”.
The civil defence agency called on the international community to act immediately to halt what it described as an “organised crime”.
“How long will civilians remain without a safe place in this world?”
Gaza’s Government Media Office has rejected Israel’s claims that the high-rising residential buildings flattened in recent strikes were being used by Hamas for military purposes.
“We refute, in full and in detail, the lies and allegations propagated by the Israeli occupation to justify its barbaric aggression,” it said in a statement on Saturday.
“We affirm unequivocally, based on the testimony of the residents of these towers, that they are under surveillance, and only civilians are permitted to enter them.”
The office said Israel’s claims are “part of a systematic policy of deception used by the occupation to justify the targeting of civilians and infrastructure” and that its actions constitute “forced displacement”, which is illegal under international law.
