On Sunday, September 7, 2025, Gaza City awoke to the now-familiar thunder of explosions and the collapse of yet another high-rise, as Israeli forces intensified their campaign across the besieged enclave. According to the Palestinian Civil Defence, the destruction of Al-Ruya Tower marked the fiftieth building razed in Gaza City since the beginning of Israel’s push to seize the territory’s largest urban center. The attack, which forced hundreds of families to flee their makeshift shelters, comes amid mounting warnings from humanitarian organizations about the catastrophic consequences for Gaza’s already fragile communications, infrastructure, and civilian population.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor sounded the alarm on September 7 about a looming breakdown in Gaza’s communication and internet systems. The Monitor warned that Israeli airstrikes targeting residential towers directly threaten the communications sector, as many local companies depend on rooftop installations for essential equipment. "The destruction of communication infrastructure is designed to hinder humanitarian efforts and isolate civilians, creating chaos that leads to forced displacement," the Monitor stated, urging international actors to pressure Israel to halt its targeting of Gaza’s telecommunications and internet infrastructure.
Fuel shortages have compounded the crisis, with the Monitor cautioning that operational stations may soon be forced to shut down, risking a total collapse of Gaza’s network. The organization emphasized that the Israeli military had already demolished two residential towers in the hours before its warning and signaled intentions to destroy even more buildings. These strikes, the Monitor argued, appear aimed at eliminating urban infrastructure, displacing civilians, and dismantling what remains of Gaza’s telecommunications and internet systems.
The latest attack on Al-Ruya Tower—a five-storey building housing 24 apartments, department stores, a clinic, and a gym—was preceded by an evacuation threat from the Israeli military. Residents and displaced families sheltering in nearby tents were forced to flee, many with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, described the atmosphere near the site as "scary," with panic spreading and hundreds of families losing what little shelter they had. "Israel [is] aiming to force Palestinians to the southern areas using these explosions, but everyone knows that there is no safe place in the south or any humanitarian zone," Shawa told Al Jazeera.
Israel’s stated rationale for these strikes, reiterated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is the elimination of "terrorist infrastructure and nefarious terrorist high-rises." This talking point has become a refrain as the Israeli military continues to obliterate civilian infrastructure in Gaza. The campaign’s targets have included not only high-rises like Al-Ruya Tower but also the 15-storey Soussi Tower, destroyed on Saturday, and the 12-storey Mushtaha Tower, hit the day before. The use of remotely controlled explosive robots in residential streets, reported by Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, has added a new dimension to the destruction, with entire neighborhoods—including Sabra, Zeitoun, and Sheikh Radwan—being devastated. Homes, public facilities, schools, and even a mosque have not been spared.
The human toll of this escalation is staggering. On September 7 alone, Israeli forces killed at least 65 people across the Gaza Strip, including 49 in the northern part of the enclave. Among the dead were at least eight Palestinians, including children, killed when Israeli forces bombed the al-Farabi school-turned-shelter west of Gaza City. Sohaib Foda, who was sleeping in the school when the attack took place, recounted the chaos: "I heard a thud, and a block fell on my face. My cousin’s daughter, who was sleeping here, got injured and fell beside me. Another block then fell on her head. Everyone was screaming. I was scared. When I touched my face, it was covered in blood, and I realised I had been injured." Mohammed Ayed, another witness, described the grim aftermath: "We have recovered two hands so far. As you can see, these are children’s hands."
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, at least 64,368 Palestinians have been killed and 162,776 wounded, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Thousands more remain buried under the rubble, as famine continues to spread across the enclave. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that at least five people, including three children, starved to death in Gaza between September 6 and 7. These deaths bring the total number of malnutrition fatalities to 387—including 138 children—since the war began. The global hunger monitor, IPC, confirmed famine in northern Gaza on August 22, and since then, at least 109 hunger-related deaths have been recorded, 23 of them children.
Displacement has become a grim routine for Gaza’s residents. One family, whose shelter was destroyed when the Soussi Tower was reduced to rubble, shared their ordeal: "We have nothing left for us. We quickly left the building without bringing anything with us. The Israelis attacked the building half an hour later. Now, we are trying to stay away from the eyes of the other people by trying to sew some fabrics and sheets," the family’s patriarch recounted, describing their desperate attempt to construct a new shelter.
As Israeli forces push to displace residents of Gaza City to the south, Palestinians have repeatedly asserted that nowhere in the territory is safe. Gaza’s Ministry of Interior issued a stark warning on September 7, advising citizens not to trust Israel’s claims about the existence of a humanitarian safe zone in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis. The ministry pointed out that the so-called "humanitarian zone" has been bombed repeatedly since its designation by the Israeli military. The relentless bombardment, described by Mahmoud as occurring "every five to 10 minutes," has left civilians with few options and little hope for respite.
International response to the crisis remains mixed. On Sunday, United States President Donald Trump suggested he had put forward a new proposal to end the war in Gaza, calling it a "final warning" for Hamas. The Palestinian group acknowledged receiving "ideas" from the US and expressed willingness to consider any efforts toward a lasting ceasefire. Meanwhile, academics, United Nations experts, and leading rights groups have described the scale of Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide, underscoring the severity of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in real time.
As the sun sets over Gaza City, the future remains uncertain for its besieged residents. With communications infrastructure on the brink of collapse, entire neighborhoods leveled, and famine stalking the most vulnerable, the world is left to grapple with the consequences of a conflict that shows no sign of abating. The urgency of international intervention grows ever more acute as each day brings new losses—and new pleas for help from those trapped inside the Strip.