Israel expands push into Gaza City center with 3 IDF divisions

By Seth Frantzman | September 18, 2025

Soldiers with the IDF’s 98th Division complete training exercises in preparation for the start of the operation in Gaza City. (IDF)

Elements of three Israel Defense Forces (IDF) divisions began to expand operations into Gaza City on September 16, the Israeli military said. The ground offensive is part of Gideon’s Chariots II, the operational name of the assault on Gaza City.

The IDF approved the plan to take the urban center in northern Gaza in August and began to prepare the way via airstrikes on high-rise buildings and other sites throughout the first two weeks of September. By mid-September, the IDF said it had already inched forward to control 40 percent of Gaza City.

“Gaza City is the central hub of Hamas’s military and governing power—their main stronghold. Hamas has turned Gaza City into the largest human shield in history,” IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on September 16.

Israel’s 98^th, 162^nd, and 36^th Divisions are among the forces taking part in the offensive. All these units have served in Gaza throughout the 23 months of war that began on October 7, 2023. The 36^th was responsible for cutting Gaza City off from central Gaza in late October 2023. The 98^th played a key role in taking Khan Younis and fighting in the suburbs of Gaza City in 2024. The 162^nd served for most of the war in every part of the territory and is Israel’s most experienced division at fighting in these urban areas.

“The Gaza Division is operating in the security zone along the border facing the western Negev communities and operating in the Rafah and Khan Yunis areas, while the 99th Division is operating in the northern Gaza Strip,” the IDF added on September 16.

The IDF says that the Israeli Air Force struck 850 targets between September 9 and 16, including high-rise buildings. On September 15, for instance, the IDF published an aerial photo of a building it said was “used by the Hamas terrorist organization in the area of Gaza City.” The Israeli military claims that Hamas has planted intelligence-gathering equipment and observation posts in these tall structures. On September 17, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that 25 high-rise buildings had been struck on the eve of the ground maneuver. “If Hamas does not release the hostages and disarm, Gaza will be destroyed and turned into a monument to the rapists and murderers of Hamas,” Katz added in a post on social media. He has said in the past that the IDF is changing the skyline of Gaza by destroying these buildings.

IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir laid out the priorities for the offensive on September 16, including dismantling Hamas’s control of Gaza City and freeing the 48 hostages held in the territory. Around 20 of those held are believed to be alive. Zamir also stated that Izz al Din al Haddad is the Hamas commander now responsible for Gaza and warned Haddad that the territory would become his grave if he didn’t give in. CNN reported that the Israeli military estimates that the offensive in Gaza City could take several months.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Israel on the eve of Israel’s ground push into the center of Gaza City. Rubio said on September 15 that US President Donald Trump “wants to see it [the war] end quickly. And we’d prefer that it end quickly via negotiated settlement so all the fighting can stop, and we can begin the very hard work as an international community—not just the United States—rebuilding Gaza and providing the people of Gaza a much better life, a much better life than what they’ve had under Hamas.”

On September 18, Reuters reported the beginning of a telecom blackout in Gaza as IDF tanks advanced. The same day, the IDF announced that four Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in southern Gaza. It is the most significant loss for the IDF since four soldiers were killed on September 8 in northern Gaza. The IDF also announced that it is adjusting its humanitarian responses in southern Gaza as the fighting develops and civilians evacuate Gaza City to head south.

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).