November 8, 2025
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City on Friday after an evacuation warning, as the military stepped up operations aimed at seizing control of the city.
The military accused Hamas terrorists of using high-rises in the city for surveillance and planned ambushes, and said it would carry out “precise, targeted strikes” on militant infrastructure in the coming days.
Israel has begun mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and is repeating evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive.
Palestinians said Friday's strike targeted the Mushtaha tower in Rimal, an upscale neighborhood before the war. Gaza City resident Ahmed al-Boari said people fleeing Israeli operations elsewhere in the city had sought shelter in and around the building.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was wounded or killed in the strike.
Israel said it struck the building because it was used by Hamas for surveillance. Photos of the building taken before Friday’s strike showed that its roof was already heavily damaged from earlier raids.
Israel has declared Gaza City, in the north of the territory, to be a combat zone. Parts of the city are already considered “red zones” where Palestinians have been ordered to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
Hamas released a propaganda video Friday of two hostages in Gaza City. The video shows Guy Gilboa-Dalal in a car, at one point joined by another hostage, Alon Ohel.
Gilboa-Dalal speaks, likely under duress, pleading for an end to the war and the return of hostages. He was last seen in a video more than six months ago with another hostage, Evyatar David, as they watched other hostages being released during a ceasefire.
Hamas-led terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel that triggered the war on Oct. 7, 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants.
Israel says the war will continue until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and that it will retain open-ended security control of the territory. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
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