Hamas has denounced Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s announcement of escalating attacks on Gaza City, describing it as a “criminal plan” to destroy the city and pressure residents into forced displacement, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement, the group said Israel’s targeting of high-rise residential towers in heavily populated areas amounts to “crimes against humanity”.

“The occupation army’s strikes on densely populated towers are part of an organised crime of forcible transfer,” the group said, rejecting Israel’s claims that such buildings are being used by “resistance fighters” as “false pretexts to justify its brutality”.

Hamas urged the international community, the UN Security Council, and international courts to take immediate action to halt Israel’s genocidal war and to hold Israeli leaders accountable.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to widen the war and prolong its duration will “only bring more failure and losses” for Israel, it said.