Saturday, March 29, 2025
Netanyahu Defies UN and EU as Israeli Forces Encircle Gaza City with Tanks
Jerusalem, September 18, 2025 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pressed ahead with a major military operation in Gaza City, openly defying warnings and sanctions from both the United Nations and the European Union. Satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts confirm that Israeli tanks and ground forces have surrounded the city, raising fears of a full-scale assault.
Eyewitnesses told CNN that Israeli tanks and troops have massed in the Sheikh Radwan Tal’aa area, north of Gaza City. Satellite images taken on Tuesday and Wednesday showed armored columns moving closer from previous positions, though they had not yet entered the city itself. Additional armored vehicles were spotted advancing about two kilometers inside Gaza, near the Zikim crossing along the northern border with Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have already announced the beginning of a ground operation aimed at dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure. The Associated Press reported that Israeli tanks and troops penetrated deeper into the city on Wednesday, while heavy airstrikes targeted residential towers said to be used by Hamas for surveillance.
With a pre-war population of around one million, Gaza City has witnessed a mass exodus as thousands of Palestinians flee in fear of the advancing Israeli forces. Israel temporarily opened a crossing south of Gaza City for two days to allow civilians to leave.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 98 people were killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll since the war began to more than 65,000. Israel claims over 150 airstrikes have been carried out on Gaza City in recent days.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has deepened. On Tuesday, a UN-appointed independent investigation concluded for the first time that Israel had committed acts of genocide in Gaza, a charge Israel strongly denies. The UN has since designated parts of Gaza as famine-affected zones, warning that continued Israeli offensives could collapse the enclave entirely.
The European Union, meanwhile, announced new tariffs and sanctions on Israel just a day earlier, citing violations of international law in Gaza. Despite this, Netanyahu has signaled no change in policy, insisting that the offensive is necessary to destroy Hamas’ operational strongholds.
Israel’s escalating campaign has triggered widespread international criticism. The UN Secretary-General warned that the siege of Gaza City risks worsening “an already catastrophic humanitarian disaster.” Yet, with tanks now surrounding the city and ground operations underway, fears of a bloody urban battle are mounting.
