JERUSALEM(National times)- The Israeli military began a ground offensive targeting Gaza City on Tuesday, slowly squeezing in on the Palestinian territory’s largest city that has seen block after block already destroyed in the Israel-Hamas war. Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south. The push marks yet another escalation in a conflict that has roiled the Middle East as any potential ceasefire feels even further out of reach despite months of diplomacy. While the military wouldn’t offer a timeline for the offensive, Israeli media outlets suggested it could take months. Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” while independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, joining a rising international chorus of such accusations. Israel fiercely rejected the claim, calling the experts’ report “distorted and false.”Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Israel and then made a brief stop in the energy-rich nation of Qatar where he met with its ruling emir whose country is still incensed over Israel’s strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official. Egypt, however, escalated its language against Israel, referring to it as the “enemy” for the first time in years. Qatar and Egypt have been key negotiators in the war. “We have a very short window of time in which a deal can happen,” Rubio said. “It’s a key moment — an important moment.” Rubio said “a negotiated settlement” still remains the best option while acknowledging the dangers an intensified military campaign posed to Gaza. “The only thing worse than a war is a protracted one that goes on forever and ever,” Rubio said. “At some point, this has to end. At some point, Hamas has to be defanged, and we hope it can happen through a negotiation. But I think time, unfortunately, is running out.”

Intensity of strikes in Gaza City grows
Katz had signaled earlier in the day the operation in Gaza City had begun. “Gaza is burning,” he said. “We will not relent and we will not go back — until the completion of the mission.” An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said that the “main phase” of the Gaza City operation had begun, with troops moving in from the city’s outskirts toward its center. Airstrikes have pounded Gaza City for some time in the leadup to the operation, knocking down towers in the city. The official said the Israeli military believes there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the militant group. The military estimates 350,000 people have left Gaza City — saying it was about one-third of the city’s population before the new ground offensive started. That contradicted a U.N. estimate issued Monday that over 220,000 Palestinians have fled northern Gaza over the past month, after the Israeli military warned that all residents should leave Gaza City ahead of the operation. An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the region around Gaza City before the evacuation warnings. Long lines of traffic stretched down Gaza’s coastal road Tuesday as the offensive began, with vehicles loaded down with mattresses and people’s belongings and others fleeing on foot. By the end of the current operation, an Israeli military graphic suggested its troops hope to control all of the Gaza Strip except for a large swath along the coast.