Battle for Gaza City will be costly and difficult, say experts

They warn of massive destruction, hostage casualties and large humanitarian disaster

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JERUSALEM - In a dense urban landscape, with likely thousands of Hamas fighters lying in wait, taking Gaza City will be a difficult and costly slog for the Israeli army, security experts say.

On Aug 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his vision of victory in Gaza following 22 months of war, with the military ordered to attack the last remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the central camps farther south.

With a pre-war population of some 760,000, according to official figures, Gaza City was the biggest of any municipal area in the Palestinian territories.

But following the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 that sparked the war, its population has only swelled, with thousands of displaced people fleeing intensive military operations to the north.

Gaza City itself has come under intense aerial bombardment, and its remaining apartment buildings now rub shoulders with tents and other makeshift shelters.

Mr Amir Avivi, a former Israeli general and head of the Israeli Defence and Security Forum think tank, described the city as the "heart of Hamas' rule in Gaza".

"Gaza City has always been the centre of government and also has the strongest brigade of Hamas," he said.