As Israeli Troops Advance, IDF Says Hamas Turned Gaza into 'Largest Human Shield in History'

JERUSALEM, Israel – As Israel's ground operation in Gaza City kicks into high gear, the Israel Defense Forces say Hamas has turned Gaza into the largest human shield ever, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he's again been invited to visit the White House.

He's due at the White House after he addresses the United Nations later this month. It will be his fourth meeting on Pennsylvania Avenue since President Donald Trump took office in January.

Netanyahu, who watched from a military command center as the Israeli Air Force launched a retaliatory attack on the Houthis' key port in Yemen on Tuesday, said nearly 400,000 Gazans have fled the Gaza City area as Israeli troops penetrate deeper into the last Hamas stronghold.

On Tuesday, the prime minister declared, "Today I gave an order in a discussion at the Ministry of Defense to find ways to allow them to leave more easily. They want to leave, they want to get out of there, from the city, because they are responding to us and not to Hamas, which by the way is shooting at them, to prevent them from doing so."

The IDF issued a map of a new transportation route south that will be open to Gazans for two days.

One fleeing resident, Alaa Ismail, commented, "The situation is very difficult for us, and we have no money at all. My father is in poor health and needs to help push the handcart. There is no safe place in Gaza, and we'll have to sleep on the street like others tonight."

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin noted that the military is using precision strikes with air, ground, and intelligence forces to target Hamas military positions in what he called the central hub of Hamas's governing power.

Defrin asserted, "Hamas has turned Gaza City into the largest human shield in history. Beneath the streets runs a vast network of tunnels, connecting command centers, rocket launchers, and weapons storage facilities – all deliberately hidden under civilians and civilian infrastructure."

The military's main mission, along with the defeat of Hamas, is to bring the hostages home.

"Hamas continues to hold dozens of our hostages in inhumane conditions," Defrin emphasized. "Their safe return is at the forefront of our mission. They are the reason we continue our fight."

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Despite nearly two years of war and other challenges, Netanyahu told the nation on Tuesday that the economy is in good shape.

"The Israeli economy is very strong," he observed. "I have terrific confidence in it. It is strong, it is innovative. It weathered two economic crises, the Corona crisis, it came out first in the world, and a two-year war. We have an enormous amount of investments."

Netanyahu added, "People are coming and they will continue to come for everything that we’re doing, not only the economy and the technology of today, but the technology of the future: cyber, AI, and so many other things."