Israel issues final warning: Gaza faces ‘mighty hurricane’ if Hamas refuses to release hostages
Israel has told residents of Gaza City to leave immediately after warning that it would step up air strikes and ground operations in the Gaza Strip in a “mighty hurricane” if Hamas does not free the last hostages it is holding and surrender.
In what it called a final warning on Monday, Israel’s military told the Palestinian militant group that Gaza would be destroyed if it did not disarm and release 48 hostages seized in the 2023 attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Residents said Israeli forces had bombed Gaza City from the air and blown up old armoured vehicles in its streets. Hamas was meanwhile studying the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered on Sunday, with a warning from President Donald Trump that it was the militant group’s “last chance”.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“I say to the residents of Gaza (City): you have been warned - get out of there!” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that Israel had in recent days knocked down 50 “terror towers” in a prelude to an upcoming “ground operation” in Gaza City.
“A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
“This is a final warning to the murderers and rapists of Hamas in Gaza and in the luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and lay down your weapons - or Gaza will be destroyed, and you will be annihilated.”
Katz’s post appeared before reports of a shooting at a bus stop in Jerusalem that killed six people, including one Spanish citizen. Hamas praised the attackers.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bombed a 12-floor block in the middle of Gaza City where dozens of displaced families had been housed, three hours after urging those inside and in hundreds of tents in the surrounding area to leave.
In a statement, the IDF said Hamas militants who had “planted intelligence gathering means” and explosive devices had been operating near the building and “have used it throughout the war to plan and advance terror attacks against IDF forces”.
According to a senior Israeli official, the latest US proposal calls for Hamas to return all 48 remaining living and dead hostages on the first day of a ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to end the war.
Hamas has long said it intends to hold onto at least some hostages until negotiations are complete. It said in a statement it was committed to releasing them all with a “clear announcement of an end to the war” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israel launched a major assault last month on Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of residents are living in the ruins, having returned after the city experienced the most intense fighting of the war’s early weeks nearly two years ago.
On Sunday, Trump suggested a deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. An Israeli official said Israel was “seriously considering” Trump’s proposal but did not elaborate.
The war began with an assault by Hamas-led fighters on southern Israel in 2023. Israel says the attackers killed 1200 people and took more than 250 hostages to Gaza.
Most of the hostages were released in ceasefires in November 2023 and January-March 2025, but the group has kept others as a bargaining chip.
Israel’s assault has reduced much of the enclave to rubble and caused a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, according to health officials in Gaza.
