Israeli warplanes launched an unprecedented series of raids on different areas in Gaza City, amid intensive drone flights over the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with a complete cut off of communications and the Internet.
According to what was also confirmed by Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh, who was close to the bombing sites and was unable to complete his telephone intervention because of the smell of gunpowder, so he had to stay away from the "mike" for some time so that he could wear a mask to avoid suffocation.
The raids focused on the Ansar area in western Gaza, which houses the French Cultural Centre and the headquarters of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza.
Dahdouh said the shelling was only 50 to 60 meters away, and stressed that there was no safe place in Gaza, although it would not be safer than where Al Jazeera broadcasted.
Dahdouh initially rejected the request of Al Jazeera anchor Abdul Salam Farah, who was speaking to him on the air, to stay away from the place where the sound of shelling is heard very loud for his safety.
But Wael responded by saying that it was very difficult to move anywhere else in light of this widespread and very violent bombardment, and insisted on continuing to report what was happening nearby.
The Al Jazeera anchor ended his intervention, fearing for the safety of the team when the explosions came from the camera in a way that posed a danger to them.
After his return, al-Dahdouh said that shelling had spread across the Gaza Strip, specifically Gaza City, and that phosphorus bombs had been dropped on the northern outskirts of the beach camp and on the northwest and south of the city.
The raids began in the northwest and then spread west to the areas of al-Ansar, al-Rimal al-Janoubi, Tal al-Hawa and al-Sabra, and in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital, according to al-Dahdouh, who said that the area from which Al Jazeera broadcasts received the heaviest blows, although they are residential areas.