UN says 400,000 trapped in north Gaza as Israel ups strikes, limits aid
UN agencies and rights groups are sounding the alarm in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel besieges the Jabalia area.
More than 50 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as Israel ramps up its ground operations in the north, where the humanitarian situation has quickly worsened.
The Gaza-based Health Ministry said in a Tuesday statement that 55 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from the year-long Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip to more than 42,000 with over 99,000 injuries.
Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-run enclave cited by Reuters said at least 17 Palestinians including a doctor were killed Tuesday by Israeli fire near the al-Falouja area of Jabalia, which has been the main focus of Israel’s 10-day fresh ground operation in the north.
On Oct. 5, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for several areas of the northern Gaza Strip including hospitals as Israeli tanks began what the military says is an operation to eliminate “terrorist infrastructure and terrorists.”
On the same day, Israeli forces laid siege to Jabalia and its refugee camp, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, with UN agencies saying the operation has severely restricted aid entry after Israeli forces closed the main crossings into the northern part of the Strip earlier this month.
On Tuesday the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding to see improvement in the humanitarian situation or risk the disruption of US arms shipments, according to reports.
More than 50,000 people have fled the Jabalia area since then, while nearly 400,000 remained trapped in the north amid intense bombardment, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
أنا ابن مخيم جباليا، أعرف شوارعه وبيوته وأهله وناسه جيداً، وأقسم بالله أنني لم أتعرف على هذا المكان بسبب الدمار الكبير الذي سببته قوات الاحتلال الإسرائيلي. pic.twitter.com/FpOXlidN2K
— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) October 12, 2024
The UN has condemned the Israeli evacuation orders as an attempt to forcibly displace the population.
“The forcible transfer of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime and may amount to other atrocity crimes,” the UN human rights office said in a Monday statement.
The OHCHR also condemned the Israeli siege imposed in the north, saying it was “appalled” by the “desperate situation” that is unfolding.
Amnesty International called on Israel to immediately end its “cruel and inhuman blockade on Gaza and its siege in the north” and to “allow the unhindered entry of essential supplies, including food and fuel to the area.”
In a press release on Tuesday, the rights group said Israel’s “evacuation orders” amounted to “forced displacement.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also expressed concerns over the “large number of civilian casualties in the intensifying Israeli campaign in northern Gaza, including at schools sheltering displaced Palestinian civilians.”
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Dujarric said the secretary general “strongly urges all parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and emphasizes that civilians must be respected and protected at all times.”
Dujarric’s remarks came after at least 10 people were killed and nearly 40 others were injured by Israeli artillery shells that hit a food distribution center affiliated with the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) in Jabalia where dozens of residents had gathered to receive food.
The Israeli military said that 30 trucks carrying flour and other food supplies from the UN World Food Programme were transferred Monday through the Erez West crossing into the northern Gaza Strip for the first time since the new offensive began.
In central Gaza's Deir el-Balah, Israeli warplanes struck the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex where displaced people were sleeping early Monday, killing at least four people and injuring more than 40 others, according to local health officials. Tents quickly caught fire and videos circulated on social media of at least one person being burned alive.
This is so f**** scary
Do u know how many people live in this area!!!!
Video taken from al aqsa hospital in deir el balah pic.twitter.com/MsYCbfxX4T— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) October 13, 2024
In his comments to reporters, Dujarric said the hospital complex housed people from the north who were ordered by Israel to evacuate.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee confirmed the attack on X, saying the strike targeted a “command and control center” used by Hamas.
The hospital strike followed an Israeli airstrike Sunday on an UNRWA school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed at least 22 people. UNRWA said in a post on X that the school was a polio vaccination site.
Israel has been leading a devastating air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, after Hamas militants launched a cross-border assault that killed nearly 1,200 people and took over 240 others hostage.
