The Israeli military on Tuesday launched a new ground offensive in Gaza City.

The Israeli forces claimed that they were destroying infrastructure in the city allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The aim of the military operation, codenamed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II”, is to “achieve the war’s objectives” and enhance the “achievements made during combat”, said the Israel Defense Force.

Gaza City is now considered a dangerous combat zone, the Israeli military said, urging residents to leave immediately for areas south of the Gaza valley.

“Join the more than 40% of the city’s residents who have left the city to ensure their safety and the safety of their loved ones,” said Avichay Adraee, the military’s Arabic language spokesperson.

Two divisions of the Israeli Army, comprising tens of thousands of soldiers, began the ground operation overnight, The Times of Israel quoted the military as saying.

The operation was launched even as the Israeli military estimates that about six lakh civilians and thousands of alleged Hamas members are still in Gaza City, the newspaper reported.

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the country’s military had struck with “an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas”.

“We will not relent and we will not go back – until the completion of the mission,” Katz said on social media.

At least 48 persons were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.

In the run-up to the operation, the Israeli Air Force struck more than 850 sites in the city in the past week, The Times of Israel quoted the military as saying.

On August 8, Tel Aviv announced plans to take military control of Gaza City, marking a major escalation in its nearly two-year war against Hamas. Israel’s Security Cabinet approved the plan on August 20.

On September 9, the Israeli military ordered all residents of Gaza City and its neighbourhoods to “evacuate immediately”, saying it would operate with “great force” to eliminate Hamas.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began in October 2023 after Hamas killed 1,200 persons during its incursion into southern Israel and took hostages. Israel has been carrying out unprecedented air and ground strikes on besieged Gaza since then, leaving more than 62,600 persons dead.

In August, the UN formally declared a famine in northern Gaza, warning that it could spread from the Gaza Governorate to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis in the coming weeks.

Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks since July 6. Earlier efforts to reinstate a brief ceasefire that took effect in January had stalled due to disagreements between the two sides.

The operation in Gaza City was launched even as a commission of inquiry set up by the United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

A new report by the panel said that there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out in the past two years.

The acts were killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.

The report cites statements made by Israeli civilian and military leaders and the pattern of conduct by the Israeli forces as evidence that the acts “were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group”.

Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the report, describing it “distorted and false”. It demanded that the commission be immediately abolished.

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