“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post to X on Tuesday as the Israel Defense Forces began its offensive on the largest city in the Gaza Strip.
This picture taken from a position at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing amid Israeli bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory on Sept. 16, 2025.
Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images
“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,” Katz wrote.
“We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission,” he added.
Video footage from the area showed multiple large explosions in Gaza City on Tuesday as the IDF pressed its offensive.
