Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City on Tuesday, declaring “Gaza is burning” as Palestinians there described the most intense bombardment they had faced in two years of war.

An Israel Defense Forces official said ground troops were moving deeper into the enclave’s main city, and that the number of soldiers would rise in coming days to confront up to 3,000 Hamas combatants the IDF believes are still in the city.

“Gaza is burning,” Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X. “The IDF strikes 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.”

Bodies Trapped Under Rubble, Thousands Flee

In launching the assault, Israel’s government defied European leaders threatening sanctions and warnings from even some of Israel’s own military commanders that it could be a costly mistake.

U.S. President Donald Trump sided with Israel, telling reporters at the White House that Hamas would have “hell to pay” if it used hostages as human shields during the assault.

In the latest expression of international alarm, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment “scandalous” and “fake”.

Gaza health officials reported at least 50 people killed on Tuesday, most in Gaza City, as airstrikes swept across the city and tanks advanced.

Where a missile had destroyed two multi-story residential buildings in the middle of the night, people clambered over an immense mound of dislocated concrete to pry out victims, footage obtained by Reuters showed. A woman cried as a small child’s body was pulled from the wreckage, hastily wrapped in a green blanket and carried away.

Abu Mohammed Hamed said several of his relatives had been wounded or killed, including a cousin whose body was trapped by a concrete block: “We don’t know how to take her out. We have been working on it since 3 a.m.”

Israel renewed its calls on civilians to leave, and long columns of Palestinians streamed towards the south and west in donkey carts, rickshaws, heavily laden vehicles or on foot.

“They are destroying residential towers, the pillars of the city, mosques, schools and roads,” Abu Tamer, a 70-year-old man making the grueling journey south with his family, told Reuters in a text message. “They are wiping out our memories.”

Rubio Offers US Support, EU Plans New Sanctions

Hours before the escalation, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Jerusalem that, while the United States wished for a diplomatic end to the war, “we have to be prepared for the possibility that’s not going to happen”.

But in Brussels, a spokesperson for the EU executive said it would agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel, including suspending certain trade provisions.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the assault “reckless and appalling” and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Some Won’t Flee: ‘It’s Like Escaping Towards Death’

Some residents were staying put, too poor to secure a tent and transport or because there was nowhere safe to go.

“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” said Um Mohammad, a woman living in the suburb of Sabra, under aerial and ground fire for days.

The IDF said it estimated 40% of people in Gaza City had left. Hamas said 350,000 had left their homes in the eastern parts of the city, heading to displacement shelters in its central or western areas, while another 175,000 people had fled the city altogether, heading south.

Much of Gaza City was laid to waste in the early weeks of the war in 2023, but around 1 million Palestinians had returned there to homes among the ruins. Forcing them out means confining most of Gaza’s population to overcrowded encampments along the coast further south lacking food, medical supplies and space.

Three more Palestinians died of malnutrition and starvation in the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday, raising total hunger deaths to at least 428, most in the last two months, in what a global monitor calls a man-made famine. Israel says the extent of hunger has been exaggerated.

Israeli Army Chief Pushed for Ceasefire Deal, Sources Say

Some Israeli military commanders have expressed concern that the Gaza City assault could endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas or be a “death trap” for troops.

Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, at a meeting Netanyahu convened late on Sunday with security chiefs, urged the prime minister to pursue a ceasefire deal, according to three Israeli officials, two of whom were in the meeting and one of whom was briefed on its details.

Families of hostages, who have led calls for a ceasefire, gathered outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem late on Monday as news of the offensive streamed in.

“Our loved ones in Gaza are being bombarded by the IDF under the orders of the prime minister,” said Anat Angrest, whose son Matan is among the 20 hostages believed to still be alive.

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show. Israel’s military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says.

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(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Maayan Lubell, Pesha Magid, Christian Martinez, Alexander Cornwell, Enas Alashray, Yomna Ehab and Sarah Young; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Peter Graff and Alex Richardson)