Palestinians flee from the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip amid intense Israeli airstrikes. Photo: Omar El-Qataa.
The Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, issued a statement on October 13 condemning the ongoing Israeli bombardment and siege of northern Gaza.
“The occupation army has targeted all vital sectors in northern Gaza, aiming to turn the North Gaza Governorate into a zone of devastation and death as part of its plan to displace our Palestinian people,” it said.
The Hamas statement comes after Israeli military strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians in Gaza over the weekend, amid a brutal siege and invasion of Jabalia in the north of the enclave that has reached its tenth day.
The victims included eight members of the Abu Ghali family, whose home was bombed in an Israeli strike on Sunday morning in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. WAFA news agency reported that Walid Abu Ghali, his wife Shireen, and their six children, Mohammad, Ahmad, Yasmeen, Samah, Yara, and Tala, were all killed in the strike.
WAFA reported that four more people were killed and others injured in Israeli strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north and that the casualty count is expected to rise as many of the injured are in critical condition.
On October 7, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders in Jabalia camp while carrying out attacks at the same time, preventing people from leaving the area safely. Many refused to obey the evacuation orders to flee to southern Gaza, knowing the Israeli military would never allow them to return to their homes in the north.
Palestinians in Jabalia in northern Gaza are forced under the Israeli air strikes and tank shelling to evacuate and flee their homes and neighbourhoods to move south and meet their unknown fate! No safety, no food, no water! Gaza is a death camp! pic.twitter.com/vpCJymU4fd
— Zaher Saleh (@zaherwael199) October 13, 2024
“Quadcopter drones are hovering low over the streets, firing at anything that moves,” Mohammed Shehab, a 27-year-old resident, told +972 Magazine from inside the camp. “Snipers are positioned on rooftops, targeting anyone who steps outside. At the same time, soldiers and tanks have pushed into the camp, demolishing homes and bulldozing roads and fields.”
We are literally living our final moments. O Allah, grant us a good end.
— حسام شبات (@HossamShabat) October 12, 2024
“Nobody is allowed to get in or out. Anyone who tries is getting shot,” Sarah Vuylsteke, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) project coordinator, said on Friday, October 11, noting that five MSF staff are trapped in the camp, fearing for their lives.
“We were staying at the Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital, but they bombed it. About 20 people were killed. I don’t know what to do, at any moment we could die. People are starving. I am afraid to stay, and I am also afraid to leave,” said Haydar, an MSF driver trapped in Jabalia camp.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Saturday, October 12, that the main crossings into north Gaza have been closed, and no food aid has entered since October 1.
“Food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries, have been forced to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations, and evacuation orders. The only functioning bakery in North Gaza caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition,” WFP added.
“The north is basically cut off, and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, WFP Country Director for Palestine.
Gaza Government Media Office:
○ “The Israeli occupation army is strengthening the practice of genocide in Jabalia and the northern Gaza Strip governorate.”
○ “The Israeli occupation army prevents ambulance and civil defense crews from retrieving over 75 martyrs.”
○ “The… pic.twitter.com/c8YED9YTxN
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 12, 2024
Local sources told WAFA that Israeli forces have erected earthen barriers on main roads between Gaza City and the north of Gaza.
Reports indicate that Israeli forces have also destroyed dozens of homes in Jabalia using explosive robots, resulting in significant casualties among both the deceased and wounded, WAFA added.
CNN reported on Saturday, October 12, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had adopted “a version of” a plan promoted by retired Reserve General Giora Eiland to force all Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza.
“Those who leave will receive food and water,” Eiland said in a video posted online earlier this month to promote his plan. “But in a week, the entire territory of the northern Gaza Strip will become military territory, and this military territory, as far as we are concerned, no supplies will enter it.”
Amid the ongoing ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, the desire to build Jewish religious colonies in the strip continues to gain momentum.
The goal was articulated by Tzvi Sukkot, a member of Knesset from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, during a committee hearing at the beginning of this year, CNN reported.
“We first need to occupy, to annex, to destroy all the houses there, build neighborhoods there,” Sukkot stated.
In the same hearing, Limor Son Har Melech from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power Party received applause after stating that the only image that will convince the Zionist entity’s enemy of its defeat is “the settlement, and Jewish children walking in its streets.”
As the occupation tightens its brutal siege, fighting in northern Gaza has intensified. The battles have been likened to those that were taking place at the very start of the war on Gaza. Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, along with other Palestinian factions, have been carrying out daily military operations against Israeli troops and vehicles.
