Thousands of families remain in Gaza City as Israeli army advances

As the Israeli army advances on Gaza City, thousands of families remain in the city's crowded tent camps.

Sky News analysis of satellite imagery taken on Monday 15 September shows tent camps stretching across the western half of the city.

A close-up view shows one camp spilling out on to the city's beaches.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault overnight on Tuesday 16 September, in what the military said was a "new phase" in its offensive.

"Gaza is burning," defence minister Israel Katz posted on X as the operation began. "IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas."

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the offensive as "utterly reckless and appalling", adding that it "will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages".

Footage verified by Sky News shows Israeli tanks entering the Gaza Strip from the north overnight on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers later filmed themselves in an area just north of Gaza City.

Satellite imagery taken a day earlier shows that while some tent camps in the area have been abandoned in the past few days, many others have not.

The IDF advance comes after an intense week of airstrikes targeting buildings in Gaza City. Sky News has verified dozens of videos showing strikes on buildings across the city.

Several of these strikes destroyed entire tower blocks, such as this strike on Al Ghafari Tower.

At least 50 people were killed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, most of them in Gaza City.

The IDF said it estimated 40% of people in Gaza City had fled south, while Hamas said that only 190,000 out of 1.3 million residents had left (15%).

An evacuation order for the entire city was first issued on 9 September, with a map on 13 September instructing Palestinians to flee to what Israel has designated a "humanitarian area" along a stretch of sandy coastline known as Al Mawasi.

Satellite imagery from Sunday 14 September shows that the area is already crowded with tents.

Last week, the UN's Gaza humanitarian country team said that "neither the size nor scale of services provided is fit to support those already there, let alone new arrivals".

Those fleeing south face a journey of at least 15km (9.3 miles), much of it through Israeli-designated combat zones. Local health officials said at least one vehicle travelling south from Gaza City had been hit by an Israeli strike.

Among those staying put on Tuesday was Um Mohammad, who lives in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.

"It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving," she said.

The IDF says the next stage of the operation will involve both air and ground forces, and that the number of soldiers involved will increase over the coming days.

Additional reporting by Sam Doak, OSINT producer.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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