Israel vows to escalate Gaza war as shelling kills 12 Palestinians

Israel vows to escalate Gaza war as shelling kills 12 Palestinians
2025-08-22T07:26:32+00:00

Shafaq News – Gaza / West Bank (Updated at 12:49)

Israeli leaders pledged to intensify military action in Gaza on Friday, hours after artillery fire killed at least 12 displaced Palestinians at a Gaza City school, as a UN-backed panel prepared to officially declare famine in the enclave.

Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that the cabinet had approved a strategy to “defeat Hamas through heavy fire, evacuations, and maneuvering,” warning that Gaza City could face the “same devastation” as Rafah and Beit Hanoun unless hostages were freed and weapons surrendered.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier confirmed the upcoming offensive, describing the capture of Gaza City as essential to dismantling Hamas and recovering prisoners.

These developments came as Palestinian media reported that Israeli artillery hit Amr Ibn al-As School in Sheikh Radwan, injuring dozens, with emergency teams pulling more bodies from the rubble as tents for displaced families burned around the courtyard. Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Israel’s military campaign has killed 62,192 Palestinians and wounded 157,114, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Telegraph also disclosed that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN-backed system for measuring hunger, will declare famine in Gaza City and surrounding areas on Friday—the first such designation in the Middle East since the system was established in 2004.

The warning projects that famine will spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by late September, with over half a million people already in “catastrophic conditions marked by starvation, destitution, and death.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry confirmed 271 hunger-related deaths, including 112 children, while human rights groups accused Israel of deliberately manufacturing the crisis by sealing borders and targeting aid convoys, calling designated evacuation zones “death traps.”

In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced, on X, the IPC findings as “fabricated,” alleging the body had manipulated its criteria to serve what it called Hamas’s “fake campaign.” The ministry claimed that over 100,000 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since October, arguing that food prices have recently fallen due to increased supplies.

Posting on X, UNRWA reported that nearly 90% of Gaza’s territory is now militarized or under evacuation orders, warning that displaced children are confined to shrinking areas and urgently need an immediate ceasefire.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces launched sweeping raids, triggering clashes across towns and refugee camps as troops fired tear gas in Idhna, stormed Aqaba and Tubas, and advanced near Tayasir village.

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