Israel flattens Gaza City high rise, kills 46 across Strip

Israel has displaced dozens more Palestinians after destroying another high-rise building in Gaza City, the second such attack in 24 hours. At least 46 people have been killed in strikes on a school, tents and houses across Gaza today.
Two people were injured after a drone launched from Yemen hit an airport in southern Israel.Yemen’s Houthis vow to escalate attacks against Israel
A spokesperson for Yemen’s Houthis has called on airlines to leave Israeli airports, saying the group plans to escalate attacks, hours after its drones hit the passenger hall of Ramon airport near the southern city of Eilat.

“Air carriers must leave the airports of occupied Palestine because they have become unsafe,” the statement said. “We affirm the escalation of our operations and will not back down from our support for Gaza, regardless of the consequences.”

Referring to its earlier attack, the group claimed that one drone had directly hit the Ramon airport, two others struck two military targets in the Negev desert, while a fourth hit a target in the southern city of Ashkelon.Israeli opposition leader: Ceasefire must be implemented
Israeli politician Yair Lapid says that there is a ceasefire deal on the table that must be accepted and implemented.

He said that the Israeli negotiating team and the army chief of staff agree with this position, adding that Hamas has expressed readiness for either a full or partial deal to return the Israeli captives still held in Gaza and end the war.

“The government is not trying to return the abductees and would rather destroy the Gaza towers than return our children,” Lapid said.Civil Defence says Israel destroys at least 50 buildings in Gaza City
At least 50 buildings in Gaza City have been razed to the ground by Israeli strikes and another 100 have been damaged, Gaza’s Civil Defence says in a statement.

It also estimated that more than 200 tents have been destroyed in Israeli raids on the city.Tens of thousands protest in Brussels, demand end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza
Tens of thousands of people are marching in the Belgian capital to call for an immediate end to Israel’s war on Gaza. They’re also demanding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be held accountable for the killings of Palestinians in the Strip.

Belgium is among the countries expected to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly this month.

‘Vertical neighbourhood’ turned to ruins: Families lose homes, memories in air strike
This is not a pretty scene that one wants to see. And it’s not, definitely not a pretty scene for many of the residents of Al-Ruya Tower who were hoping, just for the past hour, that the Israeli military would not bomb their homes.

In fact, some of them were able to make their way back to the building just an hour before the Israeli army attacked, … trying to salvage whatever they were able to get – the blankets, the mattresses, the pillows, some of the food that they collected – because they ended up in the streets.

The first evacuation warning was sent yesterday, but it left people in a state of panic because it did not give them enough time to remove any of their stuff.

And now, as the dust settled, you’re seeing this pile of rubble, and it’s just so frustrating that you see a whole life that has been built is gone in the blink of an eye by those bombs.

We’re talking about a building that we call a vertical neighbourhood: a place where people live above each other, where cousins live just a floor away from the grandparents whom they would visit by just taking the elevator. That’s a whole community in one building that has now ended up in the streets without any place to call home.

Panic among Palestinians in Gaza City after high-rise hit
Amjad Shawa, the head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, has spoken to Al Jazeera from Gaza City, a few streets from Israel’s latest strike on a high-rise building sheltering displaced families.

“The situation is scary, there is panic among the people,” he said shortly after the Al-Ruya Tower was levelled.

The strike followed an earlier attack on the Al Jazeera Club in central Gaza City, the site of another tented encampment.

“Today, hundreds of families lost their shelters,” Shawa said. “Israel [is] aiming to force Palestinians to the southern areas using these explosions, but everyone knows that there is no safe place in the south or any humanitarian zone.”