Israel launched the main phase of a ground incursion into Gaza City on Tuesday, widening weeks of air, sea, and artillery strikes that killed at least 78 Palestinians in the latest barrage.

Residents described relentless explosions, low-flying jets, and tank incursions that have reduced apartment blocks to smoking rubble while long columns of displaced families streamed south and west.

Witnesses said Sabra and Tel al-Hawa were among the hardest hit neighborhoods, with powerful blasts hurling debris hundreds of meters and entire residential blocks collapsing.

Many Palestinians who had returned to Gaza City after earlier fighting were forced to flee again into overcrowded coastal strips — a pattern rights groups and aid agencies characterize as mass forced displacement.

Israel has framed its assault as an effort to dismantle Hamas’s infrastructure and recover captives taken in October 2023. Families of captives, however, warn that the assault endangers the very people it claims to rescue.

War Minister Israel Katz’s boast that “Gaza is burning” laid bare the campaign’s destructive intent as the military tore through densely populated neighborhoods.

The escalation followed a high-profile visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who signaled firm diplomatic backing for a harder line.

The operation has provoked unease inside Israel as well. Senior military figures and some ministers — notably military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir — reportedly warned that a full urban conquest could imperil troops and the remaining captives, urging pursuit of a deal that would secure hostage releases rather than an all-out assault.

In an interview with the Israeli media outlet Ynet, opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the campaign as “amateurish and sloppy,” denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for sending soldiers and captives alike into danger without any defined political objective.

Appearing in court on Tuesday after the incursion began, Netanyahu was confronted with the question: “Have you decided to sacrifice the ‘hostages’ to save yourself from prison?” He remained silent.

Humanitarian agencies say the offensive intensifies an already catastrophic squeeze on food, water, and medicine; the UN and health monitors warn that malnutrition deaths are rising amid dire conditions in southern “humanitarian” zones.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed almost 65,000 people and wounded over 165,000 since October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities. Thousands more are believed to be under the rubble.