Key Takeaways:
- Claims that Gaza is an “open-air prison” don’t match the reality of luxury towers, five-star hotels, and cafés.
- Israel has repeatedly warned civilians in Gaza City to evacuate before strikes.
- Urban warfare experts Andrew Fox and John Spencer stress that demolishing high-rise buildings in siege conditions is a necessary and common military tactic.
- Spencer argues in the Washington Post that Israel’s siege of Gaza City is both legal and necessary.
There are several points to unpack about Israel’s operation to take over Gaza City, but the first is the glaring contradiction in how Gaza is portrayed online.
Gaza as an “Open-Air Prison”?
One of the most common online talking points is that Gaza is an “open-air prison.” Yet this claim is contradicted by the very influencers who push it. Since the start of the war, figures like Bisan Owda, Plestia Alaqad, and Hind Khoudary have posted wistfully about the seaside cafés, luxury homes, and international travel they once enjoyed. Their own descriptions reveal a lifestyle inconsistent with the narrative of a walled-off, destitute prison.
Yes, life in Gaza has become more difficult under Hamas’s control. But an “open-air prison” is not a place with Nutella cafés, high-rise hotels, or markets selling premium goods. Accounts like Jacqui Peleg’s (@imshin) regularly post images of Gaza’s consumer luxuries and infrastructure, which would be impossible under a genuine decades-long “siege.” If Israel had truly sealed Gaza for 20 years, there would be no construction materials for towers, no smartphones, and certainly no supplies to build Hamas’s vast underground tunnel network.
If Gaza feels like a prison, the warden is Hamas — not Israel.
The new Nutella Sweet & Café opened in Rimal, Gaza City, on Monday 1 Sep ’25.
Timestamp: 1 day ago#TheGazaYouDontSee
Link in 1st comment https://t.co/gseYdqhrQE pic.twitter.com/gOu30adRWP— Imshin (@imshin) September 3, 2025
Why Israel Strikes Tower Blocks
The IDF’s strikes on Gaza City high-rises have attracted headlines worldwide. Critics frame them as indiscriminate destruction, but the reality is different: Hamas has embedded its forces in these very structures.
Israel’s strikes were not carried out blindly either. Residents received evacuation warnings well in advance, a fact even the Associated Press acknowledged in coverage that still sought to cast doubt on Israeli intentions.
Israel’s military destroyed multiple high-rise buildings in Gaza City on Sunday, after warning residents to evacuate.
Palestinians rushed to save their belongings throwing them form the windows before the buildings were hit. pic.twitter.com/YDYR5w1SQy— The Associated Press (@AP) September 15, 2025
According to Peleg, intelligence on Hamas’s use of Gaza’s high-rises has been confirmed by experts like Israeli military analyst Or Fikalov. He reported that the Ayan Hotel, north of Gaza City on Sudaniyya Beach, was renovated just before October 7, 2023 — yet was riddled with tunnel shafts and used as a Hamas lookout point.
Another one that is said to have gone down today is Ayan Hotel just north of Gaza City on Sudaniyya Beach. This hotel which was renovated just before Oct 7 ’23, had reportedly been full of tunnel shafts, and according to @orfialkov was still being used by Hamas as a lookout… https://t.co/YKDPxoPana pic.twitter.com/rcfc34l6dE
— Imshin (@imshin) September 15, 2025
Another major strike targeted the al-Ghafri Tower, which the IDF said Hamas used to track Israeli troop movements. On its upper floors, restaurants such as the Flamingo were reportedly frequented by journalists who filmed rocket launches fired into Israel. The tower’s rooftop had long been known as a prime spot for photographing Hamas attacks — a clear example of how civilian spaces were weaponized.
The Israeli military destroyed the al-Ghafri tower in Gaza City today. The IDF said Hamas used the building to gather intelligence on troop movement.
The strike is a part of a series of IDF attacks on high-rise buildings reportedly used by Hamas for military purposes. pic.twitter.com/IyG7U9mFyn
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 15, 2025
These strikes have drawn heavy criticism from international media, which frame evacuation orders and building demolitions as indiscriminate or excessive. Yet military experts see them differently.
Andrew Fox, a veteran urban warfare analyst, explained on X:
Welcome to urban warfare when the defender has weaponised the whole landscape to a degree never before seen in modern warfare. I mean, *EVER*. What Hamas did in weaponising Gazan civilian infrastructure has never been done before.
In such conditions, targeting high-rises is not only expected but necessary to protect advancing forces — a tactic seen in other wars, including Ukraine.
The Legal Case for Israel’s Siege
John Spencer, a renowned urban warfare expert, made the case in a piece for the Washington Post: Israel’s siege of Gaza City is “lawful and necessary.” He stressed that sieges remain permitted under the laws of armed conflict when directed at combatants, provided precautions are taken to minimize harm to civilians. In fact, he argues, a siege is often the best way to limit civilian casualties in urban battles.
Western media, by contrast, tends to emphasize Palestinian civilian deaths while putting scare quotes around Israel’s claims of minimizing harm. But Spencer points out that Israel’s approach follows established precedent.
He cites the Second Battle of Fallujah (2004), where U.S. and Iraqi forces surrounded the city, urged civilians to leave, and then launched the largest assault of the Iraq War. In the Philippines’ 2017 battle for Marawi, the city was left in ruins after months of fighting. Yet no serious observers argued the siege was illegal — it was necessary to defeat militants entrenched among civilians.
Spencer concludes that Gaza City falls squarely into this pattern:
Given Israel’s record thus far, its attack on Gaza City will be lawful, moral and necessary. The IDF will proceed like any modern military facing an entrenched enemy in dense cities.
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Image Credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP via Getty Images
