The Siege of Gaza City was an engagement of the Israel-Gaza War that began on 2 November 2023 when the Israel Defense Forces completed the siege of Gaza City, which IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari identified as the epicenter of Hamas. Gaza City was defended by 30,000 Hamas militia fighters divided into five regional brigades, 24 battalions, and 140 companies, while 20,000 Israeli troops inserted into the Gaza Strip on 31 October. The IDF assassinated several Hamas leaders to dismantle military structures, conducted airstrikes against "terrorist infrastructure" (including hospitals used by the militants as military bases), and engaged in ground combat with the weakened Hamas brigades.
Siege[]
Nearly a week after Israel first began moving tanks, bulldozers, infantrymen, and combat engineer units into Gaza, Israel surrounded Gaza City itself. The IDF's engineering corps worked to locate and neutralize underground infrastructure, explosives, and other threats so that troops could move freely. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force stepped up its bombing campaign against Gaza. Having previously warned all Palestinian civilians living in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate south of the Wadi Gaza lest they be caught in the crossfire or identified as terrorists, the IAF launched an indiscriminate series of airstrikes on "terrorist infrastructure" in Gaza, including the bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp, several UN schools where 20,000 refugees were sheltering, and eleven bakeries. As a result of both the Israeli bombing and the Israeli blockade of Gaza, the Indonesia Hospital was forced to run on its backup generator after the main generator ran out of fuel, while the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital (Gaza's only medical facility serving cancer patients) was forced to shut down after running out of fuel; 16 of Gaza's 35 hospitals and more than 50 of Gaza's 72 primary healthcare clinics were forced out of service.
As Israeli troops and tanks continued to encircle Gaza City, with heavy clashes occurring on the city's outskirts, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad announced that they would use hit-and-run attacks from undeground tunnels to halt the Israeli advance. Israeli troops encountered mines and booby traps as they moved into Gaza City, while Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida claimed that Israel's death toll in Gaza was much higher than the military had announced.
By 3 November 2023, US officials not only confirmed that the US military was sending drones to aid with hostage recovery in Gaza, but also anticipated a new phase of Israel's war with Hamas in which Israel would decrease the scale of its air campaign and focus on a more tactical ground operation aimed at clearing out Hamas' vast network of underground tunnel complexes. On 4 November, Hamas claimed to be fighting in northwestern Gaza City, southern Gaza City, in Beit Hanoun, and in the northeastern Gaza Strip, while also claiming to have destroyed 24 Israeli military vehicles over the past two days. On 5 November, IDF soldiers engaged Hamas fighters who utilized tunnels near the Hamad Hospital, while Israeli troops fully surrounded Gaza City and expected to enter the city itself in two days. That same day saw the Israelis bomb the al-Maghazi refugee camp, killing up to 51 people, mostly women and children. On 7 November, Gaza's Interior Ministry announced that all bakeries in Gaza City and North Gaza had stopped operating due to systematic targeting and the lack of fuel and flour. At the same time, the Israelis bombed the Nasser Medical Complex, while launching airstrikes near Gaza City's al-Quds Hospital and Beit Hanoun's Kamal Adwan Hospital. Later that same day, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli troops had entered Gaza City from multiple directions, with heavy clashes occurring deep inside the city as Israel tightened its noose with troops on foot and in armored vehicles and in tanks. Gallant also claimed that Hamas' most senior leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was isolated in his bunker and was cut off from his surroundings as his chain of command weakened. On 8 November, the IDF claimed that combat engineers had detonated dozens of tunnel openings, and that 130 tunnel shafts had been destroyed since the beginning of the fighting.
On 9 November, under pressure from American president Joe Biden, the Israelis agreed to daily four-hour fighting pauses to allow for civilians to evacuate. At the same time, Israeli forces launched a series of violent raids in northern Gaza that created a "fire belt" on its eastern side, and Israel claimed to have killed 50 Hamas fighters in Gaza City during the last few days. On 10 November, Israeli forces captured the al-Shati refugee camp from Hamas after killing 150 militants, destroying launch, munition production, and military planning sites during the stronghold’s capture. On 11 November, Israeli forces besieged the al-Shifa and al-Quds Hospitals, targeting any moving person fleeing al-Shifa and allegedly firing white phosphorus at the purported Hamas stronghold. Israeli tanks and snipers also fired on al-Quds Hospital. By 12 November, the IDF ground operation expanded deeper within Gaza City as infantry and engineering forces reached the outskirts of the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza and army forces coordinated with the Israeli Navy to raid the Gaza marina area. The Israeli army located long-range rocket launchers aimed at Israel, destroying launching pads, tunnel shafts, and terror infrastructure while also working with Shin Bet to arrest 20 detainees, including terrorists involved in the 7 October attack.
On 13 November 2023, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated, "Hamas has lost control of Gaza. Terrorists are fleeing south. Civilians are looting Hamas bases." The IDF continued to operate in the heart of Gaza City, besieging the al-Quds and al-Shifa hospitals, from which they received Hamas small arms and RPG fire; in spite of this, European and American support for Israel began to crack over its indiscriminate firing against the hospitals. Both al-Quds and al-Shifa hospitals were effectively put out of service by the Israeli sieges and by the depletion of their fuel and power, leaving al-Ahli Baptist Hospital as the only functioning hospital in Gaza City, in spite of the 17 October missile explosion. That same day, the IDF raided the Rantisi hospital and discovered proof that Hamas had used the basement as a command-and-control center and to hide Israeli hostages. Along the Gaza-Egypt border, civilian discontent with Gaza boiled over as refugees staged open protests against Hamas and the war with Israel.
By the afternoon of 13 November, the IDF claimed to have weakened 10 out of Hamas' 24 battalions in the Gaza Strip. Israel pressured Hamas to surrender its position inside the Shifa Hospital, Israeli forces advanced further into the al-Nasr neighborhood and arrested more than 20 Hamas operatives in the al-Shati refugee camp (battling Hamas, the PIJ, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades), fought with Palestinian militants at the al-Quds Hospital, and sustained indirect fire from Palestinian militant groups. The IDF captured the Palestinian Legislative Council building that same day.
The siege of Gaza, as of 15 November
On 14 November, the IDF said that the Nahal Brigade established operational control over the al-Shati refugee camp as the 162nd Division dismantled Hamas' centers and capabilities it had built over the ears. At the same time, the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was reduced to two operating rooms and three surgeons treating over 500 patients. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that Hamas had lost control in the northern Gaza Strip, where the Israelis were in control of the entire area above and below ground, while saying that the Israelis had been operating with multiple forces inside Gaza City and breached the defensive lines and barricades from the north and south. Gallant added that ground operations would continue, and the IDF would continue advancing to finish off Hamas in Gaza City. Meanwhile, the White House and Pentagon confirmed Israeli reports that Hamas and the PIJ were using some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and support their military operations and to hold hostages.
On 17 November, the Israeli military announced its intention to press the offensive into southern Gaza, while the Israeli army pushed from the western side of Gaza City towards the neighborhoods of Shuja'iyya and Zeitoun; Palestinian groups attempted to push back the Israeli tanks and armored vehicles. Amnesty International responded to Israeli leaflets telling residents of Khan Yunis to evacuate by urging Israel to rescind the order, saying that the evacuation order amounted to forced displacement.
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