Palestinians watch as the Mhanna tower collapses amid heavy smoke, during an Israeli strike in the Tal el-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City on September 14, 2025. AFP
On Sunday, a direct Israeli airstrike destroyed Al-Kawthar Tower, a residential building in western Gaza City, according to media reports.
Residents said the warplanes targeted the building after evacuation orders were issued, causing it to collapse completely and sending thick plumes of smoke into the sky.
In a statement, the Israeli military said the building contained Hamas infrastructure. It also claimed that it had warned residents in Gaza City’s southern Rimal neighbourhood and the area near Gaza Port to evacuate immediately toward Al-Mawasi in the south.
The Gaza Government Media Office accused Israel of systematically targeting residential towers, schools, and civilian institutions under the pretext of attacking Hamas, saying the real aim was “genocide and forced displacement.”
In a statement issued Sunday, the office condemned “the deception and lies propagated by the Israeli military in its messages to local and international audiences.”
Meanwhile, Palestinian families fled Gaza City on Sunday, some crammed into pick-up trucks and others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the territory's main urban centre.
Parents carried their children while the elderly hobbled along, an AFP journalist reported.
The mass exodus came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel in a show of support, despite an Israeli strike in Qatar earlier this week.
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, claimed on Saturday that over 250,000 Gaza City residents had already fled. However, Gaza’s civil defence agency put the figure closer to 68,000.
Fear and chaos in Gaza City
Prior to the latest assault, the United Nations had estimated that around a million people lived in and around the city, where it officially declared famine in August.
AFP footage showed exhausted families moving along the coastal road near Nuseirat, south of Gaza City, with their belongings stacked high in vehicles.
In Gaza City, “the bombardment hasn't stopped since dawn,” said Umm Alaa Shaaban, 45, a resident of the Tal Al-Hawa district.
"We haven't slept all night. The sounds of shelling and explosions have not stopped until now," she told AFP.
"The Israeli air force bombed many houses. We were terribly afraid; my children screamed in terror. We don't know where to go. The bombardment is everywhere," Shaaban added.
Mohammed Ghazal, 32, who fled from Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood, also said the strikes were relentless.
"We are living in a state of panic and extreme fear. The shelling hasn't stopped since dawn, the explosions are intense, and the shooting is continuous," he told AFP.
"Israeli forces are using terrifying methods and escalating the bombardment to frighten us and force us to flee south," he continued.
Ongoing massacres
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Sunday that 68 people were killed and 346 others wounded in Israeli bombardments across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, Israel has killed 64,871 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 164,610.
The ministry also revealed two new deaths from the Israeli-engineered famine over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of hunger victims to 422, including 145 children.
Moreover, it warned that the humanitarian catastrophe is deepening due to the Israeli ongoing blockade on food and medical supplies, once again calling for urgent international intervention.
Since 27 May, Israeli fire on aid distribution centres has killed 2,494 Palestinians and left 18,135 injured, the ministry reported.
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