Hamas: Katz's announcement to escalate attacks on Gaza is an acknowledgment of intentions to destroy the city.

The "Hamas" movement considered on Friday that the announcement by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz to escalate military operations against the city of Gaza "represents a serious challenge to international law and an acknowledgment of the criminal intentions to destroy the city and displace its residents."

It stated in a statement that "the announcement by the terrorist Minister of War of the occupation, Katz, to escalate his criminal army's operations against the city of Gaza, after weeks of the brutal attack on the city, represents an unprecedented challenge to international laws and humanitarian norms."

It affirmed that the announcement is "a public acknowledgment of the criminal intentions to destroy a populated city and extort its residents under the threat of brutal massacres, while commencing the commission of genocide in the city, destroying its neighborhoods, and pressuring to forcibly displace its inhabitants."

Hamas added that "the targeting of the fascist occupation army of residential towers crowded with residents and displaced persons comes in the context of its criminal attempts to push the city's residents to migrate forcibly, which amounts to a crime against humanity."

It emphasized that "its false claims regarding the use of these buildings by the resistance are nothing but transparent excuses to pass its brutal crime and mislead global public opinion."

It pointed out that Katz's statements about "evacuating buildings" before bombing them "reveal a policy of systematic displacement under fire, and confirm that the occupation uses civilians as hostages to impose its conditions, in a political extortion that violates international law."

Hamas called on the international community, the United Nations Security Council, and international judicial institutions "to act immediately to stop the unleashed Zionist fascism, to rein in the war criminals of the occupation leaders, and to hold them accountable for their actions that threaten regional and international security and peace."

It demanded the imposition of "deterrent international sanctions, considering that targeting civilian buildings is a war crime even with warnings, and that the widespread destruction of civilian properties falls within international crimes."

It affirmed that "the attempts of war criminal Netanyahu and the pillars of his fascist government to escape forward, after nearly two years of starting the genocide against innocent civilians, by expanding the war and prolonging its duration, will bring them nothing but disgrace and failure, and more losses within their Nazi army."

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli Defense Minister threatened that "the gates of hell are now opening on Gaza, and the first notice to evacuate a high-rise building in the city of Gaza has been delivered before the attack."

Promising escalation, he said: "When the door is opened, it will not be closed, and the activity of the Israeli army will increase until Hamas accepts Israel's conditions to end the war (the Israeli genocide in Gaza), foremost of which is the release of all hostages, disarming them, otherwise they will be eliminated."

Shortly after Katz's statement, the Israeli army bombed the "Mushtaha Tower," a multi-story building west of Gaza City, home to hundreds of citizens and displaced persons, surrounded by a refugee camp.

The army announced in a statement that it will attack in the coming days what remains of buildings in Gaza City, especially multi-story ones, in preparation for expanding the military operation.

Katz's statements come despite Hamas agreeing on August 18 to a proposal from mediators regarding a partial ceasefire and prisoner exchange in Gaza, but Israel did not respond to the mediators, despite the terms matching a previous American proposal that Tel Aviv had accepted.

On Wednesday, "Hamas" renewed its readiness to conclude a comprehensive deal for the release of all Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, to end the war on Gaza, and to withdraw from the sector, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also rejected that in a statement from his office.

On August 8, the Israeli government approved a plan proposed by Netanyahu to gradually occupy the Gaza Strip entirely, starting with the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza City to the south, followed by encircling the city, and then carrying out additional incursions into residential gathering centers, according to the official Hebrew broadcasting authority.

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, resulting in 64,300 dead and 162,005 injured Palestinians, most of whom are children and women, over 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine that has killed 376 Palestinians, including 134 children.