STORY: Israeli families of hostages and supporters protested in Jerusalem on Tuesday (September 16), urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reach a ceasefire deal to bring back the remaining hostages.

The Israeli military launched a ground offensive on Monday to seize Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre, Axios reported, citing Israeli officials.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to request for comment on the reported move, which comes after weeks of intensive Israeli strikes on the city.

Netanyahu ordered the military last month to capture Gaza City, which he describes as a stronghold of the militant group Hamas that launched the October 2023 surprise attack on Israel.

The military has since laid siege to the Gaza Strip, creating a humanitarian catastrophe with widespread destruction, mass displacement and severe shortages of food and water.

Israeli forces have been operating on the outskirts of Gaza City for weeks, edging closer to the centre of the city where an estimated one million Palestinians were sheltering last month.

"Gaza is burning," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X early on Tuesday. "The IDF strikes with an iron fist at the terrorist infrastructure and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas."

It was not immediately clear if Katz was commenting on the reported ground operation.

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show. Israeli authorities say 20 of the remaining 48 hostages in Gaza are alive.

Israel's subsequent military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry said, while a global hunger monitor said part of the enclave is suffering from famine.

Israel already controls about 75% of Gaza.

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Hostage families and supporters protest in Jerusalem, urge ceasefire deal

VIDEO SHOWS: HOSTAGE FAMILIES AND ISRAELIS PROTEST IN JERUSALEM, DEMANDING CEASEFIRE DEAL

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 16, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS NIGHT VIEWS OF PROTESTERS LYING AND SITTING ON GROUND OUTSIDE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER'S HOME, SOME COVERED WITH BLANKETS

2. PROTESTERS OUTSIDE PREMIER'S HOME

3. VARIOUS OF MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE MATAN ZANGAUKER, EINAV ZANGAUKER, AT PROTEST

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE MATAN ANGREST, ANAT ANGREST, SAYING:

"We came here last night. We heard the bombs getting stronger all over Gaza. Our children are there. The Prime Minister Netanyahu, instead of saving our children, is bombing them. He doesn't want negotiations, he wants them to come back not alive and disappear there."

5. HOSTAGE FAMILIES AND PROTESTERS OUTSIDE PREMIER'S HOUSE

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE MATAN ANGREST, ANAT ANGREST, SAYING:

"We trusted that the government will do whatever she can to bring them back. But we understood that she's doing everything she can that they won't come back. And we came here to stay. We won't leave this street until Netanyahu will bring the deal that says we stop the war for the last hostage, come back."

7. SECURITY OUTSIDE HOME

8. 53-YEAR-OLD PROTESTER FROM TEL AVIV, ZAHIRO, SAYING:

"We have we arrived late last night to send a clear and strict message to the government and of course, the prime minister of Israel. We will not leave this place until you give us all our loved ones back. It has been way, way, way too long. And you can't drag your feet any longer if you don't stop the war now and bring back all the hostages, you will be responsible for the death and the disappearance of all the remaining hostages, dead and alive. Bring them back today. There is no time to waste anymore."

9. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS IN STREET

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE MATAN ZANGAUKER, EINAV ZANGAUKER, SAYING:

"We've stopped being nice, polite. Don't do us a favour and call us for meetings."

11. HOME OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU

12. PROTESTERS

13. TENTS OUTSIDE HOME

14. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CHANTING AND HOLDING BANNER READING (English) & (Hebrew): "PRESIDENT TRUMP, EVERY TIME THERE IS PROGRESS, NETANYAHU BOMBS SOMEONE." "NETANYAHU BOMBS THE HOSTAGE DEAL, EVERYONE IN THE DEAL, GET OUT OF GAZA."