JERUSALEM – Israel unleashed a ground incursion into Gaza City on Sept 16 after visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed its goal of eradicating Hamas and warned only days may be left for a diplomatic solution.

A United Nations probe, meanwhile, charged Israel with

in a bid to “destroy the Palestinians”. It accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials of incitement.

“We are moving towards the centre” of Gaza City, an Israeli military official told journalists.

When asked whether troops had moved deeper into central Gaza City he replied: “Yes.”

“Last night, we transitioned into the next phase, the main phase of the plan for Gaza City… IDF (military) southern command forces have expanded ground activity into Hamas’s main stronghold in Gaza, which is Gaza City,” he said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said early on Sept 16 that Gaza City, the territory’s main urban hub, was “on fire”.

“The IDF (Israeli military) is striking terrorist infrastructure with an iron fist, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the necessary conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he said.

“We will not relent and we will not back down until the mission is accomplished,” Mr Katz said.

Witnesses told Agence France-Presse of relentless bombing of Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes since the Hamas attacks of October 2023 that triggered the war.

“We can hear their screams,” said 25-year-old resident Ahmed Ghazal.

Mr Rubio

for the offensive on Sept 15 as he met Mr Netanyahu, who has ordered the Israeli military to seize Gaza City.

Mr Rubio told reporters as he left Israel: “We think we have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen. We don’t have months anymore, and we probably have days and maybe a few weeks to go.”

He said a diplomatic solution in which Hamas demilitarises remained the US preference, although he added: “Sometimes when you’re dealing with a group of savages like Hamas, that’s not possible, but we hope it can happen.”

Mr Rubio, who met in Jerusalem with families of hostages in Gaza, acknowledged that Hamas has leverage by holding them.

“If there were no hostages and no civilians in the way, this war would have ended a year and a half ago,” he said at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.

A group representing hostages’ families said they were “terrified” for their loved ones after Mr Netanyahu ordered the strikes.

“He is doing everything to ensure there is no deal and not to bring them back,” they said in a statement.

‘Genocide’

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak for the world body and has faced harsh Israeli criticism, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, commission chief Navi Pillay said. “The responsibility lies with the State of Israel.”

The investigators said explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities along with the pattern of Israeli forces’ conduct “indicated that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy… Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group”.

The report concluded that Mr Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant have “incited the commission of genocide”.

Israel said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the “immediate abolition” of the COI.

Before flying to Qatar, Mr Rubio said he hoped Israel would keep up its Gaza mediation efforts, despite Israel carrying out air strikes against Hamas leaders gathered in the Gulf emirate last week to consider a US truce proposal.

“We want them to know that if there’s any country in the world that could help end this through a negotiation, it’s Qatar,” he said.

Mr Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Gaza civil defence agency, said heavy bombing was ongoing in Gaza City, adding that the military also targeted the southern city of Khan Younis.

The agency said at least 17 people had been killed on Sept 16, noting that “the number of deaths and injuries continues to rise”.

Ahead of statehood push

Mr Rubio’s visit came a week before France will lead a UN summit in which a number of Western governments, angered by what they see as Israeli intransigence, plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

Mr Rubio called statehood recognition “largely symbolic”, while Mr Netanyahu – whose government is fervently opposed to such a move – said Israel may take unspecified “unilateral steps” in response.

The

resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians.