Netanyahu tells Gaza City residents to leave as he pledges retaliation for Jerusalem attack

Thousands of leaflets dropped on Gaza City by the Israeli military on Tuesday urged residents to evacuate the area and head toward a “humanitarian zone,” a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned residents of the famine-stricken city to leave as Israel pushed forward with its takeover plans.

Netanyahu’s latest threat came just hours after two gunmen opened fire at a Jerusalem bus stop Monday, killing six people and critically injuring seven others before police “neutralized” the shooters on the scene.

Hamas hailed the attack, the deadliest in Israel since October 2024, as “heroic.” It did not claim responsibility for the shootings.

Netanyahu said the elimination of the gunmen or their supporters was “not enough.”

“My directive is to strike hard against terror strongholds,” he said after visiting the scene of the shooting with Israel’s ultranationalist security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“I promised you that we would take down Gaza’s terror towers,” he added, referring to multiple high-rise buildings destroyed by Israel in recent days, “and that is exactly what we are doing.”

“You have been warned—leave!” Netanyahu said, addressing Gaza City’s residents.

Ben-Gvir told Israeli’s to “arm yourselves,” and criticized an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that the government had deprived Palestinian detainees of even a minimum subsistence diet, ordering authorities to increase the quality and amount of food.

Images from Gaza City on Sunday showed Palestinians jumping to catch leaflets falling from the sky, ordering them to evacuate to the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone,” about 20 miles south. The Israeli military has struck areas deemed humanitarian zones, so few in the enclave consider them safe.