Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Gaza City, as seen from an undisclosed location on the Israeli side of the border, 16 September 2025. Photo: VCG

Israel says it has launched a ground incursion into Gaza City, escalating its war in defiance of international condemnation and backlash from the families of hostages held by Hamas. Later the same day, Israel confirmed striking Yemen's Hodeidah port, saying it targeted the Houthis, according to media reports.

According to the Associated Press, the ground offensive in Gaza City began the same day that independent experts commissioned by the United Nations' Human Rights Council accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the allegation, calling the report "distorted and false."

Gaza health officials reported at least 40 people killed, most in Gaza City, in the assault's early hours on Tuesday, as air strikes swept across the city and tanks advanced, according to the Reuters.

Where a missile had destroyed two multi-storey residential buildings in the middle of the night, people clambered over an immense mound of dislocated concrete to pry out victims, footage obtained by Reuters showed. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that units from two armored and infantry divisions are operating on the ground inside Gaza City and another division will join them in the coming days, Axios reported.

Israeli minister of defense Israel Katz said on Tuesday during a visit to the forces around Gaza that Israel wants to take control of Gaza City "because it is today the main governing symbol of Hamas." He stressed that if Gaza falls, Hamas will fall, according to the Axios.

In response, Hamas said in a statement that the "unprecedented barbaric Zionist escalation witnessed in the city… is nothing but a new chapter in the systematic war of genocide" against the Palestinian people, adding that the US bears "full responsibility" for the consequences of the invasion," CNN reported.

According to the Reuters, hours before the escalation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered US backing at a press conference alongside Netanyahu. While the US wished for a diplomatic end to the war, "we have to be prepared for the possibility that's not going to happen", he said.

But other longstanding allies have recoiled at what they see as disproportionate harm to civilians. In Brussels, a spokesperson for the EU executive said it would agree on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Israel, including suspending certain trade provisions.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the assault "reckless and appalling" and called for an immediate ceasefire. Britain and France are expected this month to become the first major Western powers to recognize Palestinian independence, per report.

However, when questioned about the operation to take control of the urban area in the besieged Palestinian enclave, CNN noted that US President Donald Trump stopped short of offering a view, saying he didn't have many details of the ground incursion. "I have to see. I don't know too much about it," Trump said.

Israel also bombed Yemen's port city of Hodeida in response to drone and missile fire from Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, said the AP news.

Dozens of Yemeni civilians have been killed in these ongoing Israeli strikes, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV station, which said Israel carried out 12 strikes on Tuesday. The Israeli army claimed they were in response to the Houthis' military activities there, Al Jazeera reported.

"Our air defences are currently confronting the Israeli aircrafts that are launching an aggression against our country," Houthi spokesperson Yayha Saree posted on X, said the Al Jazeera.

Earlier, Israel issued an evacuation order for Yemen's Red Sea port of Al Hudaydah, warning people and vessels to leave immediately ahead of an expected attack, Turkey media platform Anadolu Agency reported.

Last month, an Israeli strike in the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed the prime minister of the Houthi-run government, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several ministers, said the Anadolu Agency.

Global Times