Heavy battles in Gaza City

Troops, tanks and aircraft were fighting in Gaza’s biggest urban area Tuesday, on the eve of new truce talks in Qatar that aim to free Israeli hostages and halt the conflict raging into its 10th month.

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, described the latest Gaza City fighting as “the most intense in months” with militants using rockets, mortars and explosives.

The United Nations said tens of thousands of civilians have been affected by the renewed fighting and three separate evacuation orders Israel has declared in Gaza City since 27 June.

Thousands were again seen marching down dusty roads past bombed-out buildings, with mothers carrying babies and others packing their sparse belongings onto donkey carts.

Fighting has also raged elsewhere in the territory, including in the Nuseirat, Khan Yunis and Rafah areas.

Israeli forces — after almost two weeks of battles in Gaza City’s eastern Shujaiya district — on Monday intensified fighting and bombardment across the city’s east, west and south.

Residents reported overnight helicopter strikes, “explosions and numerous gun battles” in the city’s southwest.

Israel’s military said it was pursuing a “counterterrorism operation” against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza City, six months after it said it had dismantled Hamas’s “military framework” in northern Gaza.