“We heard explosions from all directions,” said Mohammed al-Bahlawi, 65, who returned to his home in Shajaieh with his family a few months ago. “A lot of people were running away,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe that there were still so many people in Shajaiyeh,” Al Bahlawy said.
The Israeli military said it could not immediately comment on the attack. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that the army was conducting a ground operation to root out Hamas after intelligence suggested the militant group had begun to regain control of nearby areas.
If confirmed, the operation would be part of a larger pattern of warfare as Israel strives to destroy Hamas, its stated objective being to destroy the group that organized and led the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli territory that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israeli forces have been forced to repeatedly return to parts of the Gaza Strip they had previously withdrawn from, particularly in the north, as Hamas regroups in the chaos of the nine-month war. Fighting has flared up again despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talking about a new, calmer phase.
There is growing frustration in Israel and around the world over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s failure to present a plan for how Gaza should be governed if Hamas is defeated.
Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said the key to counterinsurgency can be summed up in two simple words: “clear, hold and build.”
Israel “thought about killing the bad guys on day one, but has not focused on the next step,” Byman said. “That was inexcusable even in October and November. Now it’s becoming less and less excusable.”
Gaza health officials said Thursday that 15 people were killed and dozens wounded in Shajaiyeh. The Palestinian emergency services organization, the Civil Defense, said five homes were hit in Shajaiyeh and another neighborhood and that a search was underway for missing people. The death toll could not be independently confirmed.
