“We heard explosions coming from all directions,” said Mohammad al-Bahrawi, 65, who returned to his home in Shajaiyah with his family several months ago. He said “a large group” of people were driven away.
“I can’t even believe that so many people are still in Shajaiya,” Mr. Bahrawi said.
The Israeli military said it could not immediately comment on the attack. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the military was launching a ground operation to root out Hamas based on intelligence that the armed group had begun to regain control of nearby areas.
If the operation is confirmed, it would be part of a larger pattern of war in which Israel has struggled to achieve its stated goal: the elimination of Hamas, which organized and led the October 7 Japan’s attack on Israeli territory triggered the Gaza War.
As Hamas regroups amid the anarchy of nine months of war, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to parts of Gaza they had previously left, particularly in the north. The fighting is intensifying even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks of a new, less intense phase.
Frustration is growing in Israel and around the world as critics say Netanyahu has failed to come up with a plan for how to govern Gaza after Hamas is defeated.
Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said the key to defeating counterinsurgency lies in the abbreviation of “clear, control, establish.”
Byman said the Israelis “thought about day one — killing the bad guys — but not the next steps.” “Even in October and November, that was inexcusable. There are fewer excuses now. .
Health authorities in Gaza said on Thursday that Shajay had killed 15 people and injured dozens more. The Palestinian emergency service Civil Defense said five houses in Shajaiya and another neighborhood were attacked and a search was underway for missing people. The tolls could not be independently verified.
