Israeli Tanks Move Closer to Gaza City as Trump Prepares to Chair Meeting

Updated At : 11:52 AM Aug 28, 2025 IST

On the eve of a White House meeting chaired by U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the war, witnesses reported that Israeli tanks pushed overnight into a new district on the edge of Gaza City, destroying several homes and forcing residents to flee.

Residents said the tanks rolled into the Abad al-Rahman neighborhood on Gaza City’s northern edge late Tuesday, shelling houses and leaving many wounded. Others, caught off guard by the sudden incursion into the enclave’s largest city, were forced deeper inside.

“We suddenly heard the tanks entering Abad al-Rahman. The explosions grew louder, and people began running toward our area,” said Saad Abed, a 60-year-old former construction worker. Speaking to Reuters via a chat app from his home on Jala Street, about a kilometer away, he warned: “If no agreement is reached, we will be seeing tanks right outside our doors.”

Israel has signaled that it is preparing for a new offensive in Gaza City, which it calls Hamas’s final stronghold. Nearly half of Gaza’s two million residents are currently in the city, and Israel has said they will be instructed to leave.

Thousands have already fled, but on Wednesday, local church leaders said they would remain, warning that attempting to escape south would be tantamount to “a death sentence.”

“The priests and nuns have decided to stay and continue caring for all who remain within the compound,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a joint statement.

In a statement Wednesday, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said “the evacuation of Gaza City is inevitable” and that Israel had begun facilitating the entry of tents into the area.

“Before we enter the next stage of the war, I want to confirm that there are vast open areas in the southern strip, just as in the central camps and al-Mawasi. These areas are free of tents,” he said, addressing residents’ concerns over the lack of space in central and southern Gaza.

Palestinian and UN officials have said the territory would need about 1.5 million new tents.

Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday that Trump would chair a White House meeting on Gaza on Wednesday, expressing Washington’s expectation that Israel’s war in the enclave could be resolved by year’s end. Separately, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Washington, though it was unclear if either would attend Trump’s meeting.

Tanks Pull Back, Bombardment Continues
By Wednesday, Israeli tanks had pulled back from the city’s outskirts to Jabalia, where they have been operating for months. Yet heavy bombardment continued in three eastern neighborhoods—Shejaiya, Zeitoun, and Sabra.

Gaza health officials said at least 20 people, including a four-year-old girl, were killed in the shelling.

The Israeli military said its forces were operating in Jabalia and the outskirts of Gaza City “to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate militants.” It also announced it had killed senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Aswad on August 22, describing him as the group’s head of general security intelligence for western Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing opposition to the war. On Tuesday, thousands rallied nationwide, demanding an end to the conflict and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Israel has yet to respond publicly to a U.S.-backed 60-day ceasefire proposal it had previously accepted and which Hamas agreed to last week.

According to Israeli figures, the war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Gaza health officials say more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive, plunging the enclave into a humanitarian disaster, displacing nearly the entire population, and leaving much of the territory in ruins.

On Wednesday, Gaza’s health ministry said 10 more people had died from malnutrition and starvation, bringing the total to 313 since the start of the war, including 119 children. Israel has disputed casualty figures provided by the Hamas-run ministry.