CrossFireArabia
Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sherif describes the inhumane conditions faced by over 200,000 civilians due to the ongoing severe Israeli siege on northern Gaza, amid a relentless assault for 17 days, which has resulted in the slaughter of over 600 Palestinians.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli army intensified airstrikes, artillery shelling, and gunfire in northern Gaza, Monday, amid a strict blockade that has halted the entry of food, water, fuel, and medicine, witnesses reported.
Witnesses said Israeli air raids and shelling continued for the 17th consecutive day, focusing on northern Gaza, particularly the Jabalia refugee camp, under an ongoing siege.
Israeli warplanes launched multiple airstrikes on the Saftawi area, Jabalia camp, and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the witnesses.
Israeli military vehicles were reported to be stationed near the Indonesian Hospital, the telecommunications area, and the Tawam roundabout, where intermittent gunfire was heard, the witnesses added.
In a statement, Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said: “The occupation (forces) continue to kill everything living in northern Gaza, destroying and demolishing residential homes.” He added that the Israeli forces were using siege and starvation tactics in Jabalia camp, preventing emergency teams from reaching the camp and other northern areas to evacuate the wounded.
A medical source told Anadolu that two Palestinians were killed and others injured in artillery shelling that targeted homes in the Saftawi area.
The Israeli army also continued demolishing and burning residential buildings in western Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia, witnesses said.
They added that the army destroyed an entire residential block near the electricity company close to Sheikh Zayed roundabout in northern Beit Lahia.
The situation has led to a severe food and water crisis in northern Gaza, as the Israeli military blocks the entry of trucks carrying food or aid, according to multiple sources and trapped residents.
On Oct, 6, the Israeli army attacked northern Gaza, claiming it was to “prevent Hamas from regaining strength in the area.” However, Palestinians say Israel seeks to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
In Gaza City, two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli artillery shelling of Ahmed Yassin Street in the western part of the city, according to Palestinian paramedics.
Israeli warplanes and artillery launched intense strikes on the Sudaniya area, the Shati refugee camp in northwest Gaza City, and the Zaytoun neighborhood in the southeast, according to witnesses.
In central Gaza province, Israeli forces carried out artillery shelling and heavy gunfire north of Bureij camp and west of Nuseirat camp, though no injuries were reported.
Explosions were heard as residential buildings were demolished in northern Bureij and Nuseirat camps, according to a Palestinian Civil Defense source.
The eastern parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza also witnessed heavy artillery shelling, with the strikes concentrated on the outskirts of Abasan al-Jadida town, accompanied by intense gunfire.
Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
More than 42,600 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 99,800 injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
CrossFireArabia
A Gazan journalist calls the world ‘blind, deaf’ due to the international community’s failure to bring about an end to the ongoing bloodbath in Gaza.
CrossFireArabia
Words that didn’t last for long because of the pounding Israeli warplanes that seeks to end anything called Gaza, Palestine and Palestinians.
The young woman always tried to stay cheery and alive. But her death was always to be expected as she was killed by an Israeli missile that pulverized her home.
She finally become a martyr with her family in indiscriminate Israeli military strikes on the Jabalia Camp, northern Gaza on 18 October, 2024. The camp has been under constant bombardment for the last two week. This is the third time the Israelis tried to enter the camp in a year-long onslaught.
Artist and painter Mahasen Al Khatib life was cut too short by a merciless, blinded Israeli war on defenseless civilians while world leaders look on with hands tied behind their backs.
Today she stands as the owner of the “famous chicken” videoclip in which she documented the happiness of her brother when they managed to get a chicken after months of eating leaves on a starvation diet.
She watches her brother playing with the dead naked, meat, laughs and asks:
“How are we going to cook it…?”
“Magloba…[Arabic dish with rice and vegetables,” comes the reply.
“How about roasting yet,” she interjects.
“Yes, that would be great too.”
Oh, I know, how about boiling it,” she wounders as if this is a great festive occasion.
“Yes, that too would be nice,” with the eyes of her little brother lighting up.
‘Or, what about cutting it, or even stuffing it?”
She made the videoclip on 9 August, 2024. Little did she know would be at the end of an Israeli two months later.
Mahsen drew with her pencils the heinous conditions of the people of Gaza that have been unrelenting in an Israeli genocide of death and destruction.
Her last post was on Facebook of a youth being burnt alive. His name was Shabaan Al Dalo.
He was burnt alive in a tent outside the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital on 14 October, 2024.
“How do feel when you see any person burned alive,” she wryly commented a few days later.
Mahasen Al Khatib established Rawasi Palestine Foundation for Culture, Art and Media.
Palestine and Gaza lost a creative personality. She sought to communicate the merciless, ungodly heartache of the people whose lives have long been turned upside down. She wanted to send a message to the world in a clever way about the tragedies of Gazans through her artistic works.
Mahasen left us with a creative, national heritage that sought to fight ethnic cleansing and presented us with immense digital works that expressed our wounds, devastation and hopes for an end to the massacres and killing.
The artist was firm against people leaving their homes. She and her family stood against displacement and fought it tirelessly through her works that depicted the harsh realities in a caricaturist, funny manner which she published on her social media accounts.
“God sends us a chicken after long months…thanks be to God, she says….It was a chicken for eight people and I ate a part of it,” she emphasized.
The social media became alert when news of her martyrdom was announced.
Mohammad Saeed wrote: “The martyr Mahasen Al Khatib documented for us the moment the flour arrived at their home after months of hunger and eating tree leaves. She also documented the arrival of the first chicken for her entire family after many months of absence. She stood firm in Jabalia and didn’t move. Mahasen was martyred tonight in a violent shelling in Jabalia camp. Remember her in your prayers…”
In another post that included a video of the fire, Mahasen wrote, “We saw people burning, we saw people with no one helping, we saw people dying in front of our eyes… May God have mercy on us.”
From Joy to Martyrdom
Over the past years, Mahasen Al-Khatib has spread joy through her artwork. Even in the darkest moments, she would draw a smile by publishing her family’s daily life under the bombing and harsh conditions of war. However, the last thing the Palestinian artist published before her martyrdom carried a lot of pain, which she described as “difficult nights,” according to Al Jazeera.
CrossFireArabia
Military and strategic expert, Maj-Gen Fayez Al-Duwairi said the Israeli occupation army is not able to advance in northern Gaza Strip except at night, indicating this is creating new challenges for the Palestinian resistance.
Differences this time
Al-Duwairi explained the differences between the current Israeli military operation here, and its previous operations, highlighting the new tactics followed by the occupation army and the challenges posed to Palestinian resistance groups.
He pointed out while there are ongoing battles and heavy Israeli losses including the destruction of vehicles and the killing of their soldiers, he believes the occupation’s success in isolating the Jabalia camp from all four sides has created a different reality this time around.
Moving at night
But he stressed most of the occupation’s main advances take place at night, attributing this fact to the resistance’s lack of night vision weapons with infrared rays. He pointed out this allows the occupation forces to set up barricades and achieve additional progress, even at limited distances ranging between 50 and 70 meters.
The military expert added this situation has created a new problem for the resistance it has not been exposed to before, despite its success in inflicting heavy losses on the occupation forces.
He drew attention to the seriousness of the humanitarian situation, noting there are about 150,000 Palestinians trapped in an area of no more than two square kilometers, with Israeli tanks standing at the doors of shelters.
Human shields
Al-Duwairi believes it is as if the Israeli army is using civilians as human shields, making it difficult for resistance fighters to carry out their duties without risking harm to these civilians, considering this situation as one of the biggest challenges facing fighters, which they did not face in previous military incursions.
Commenting on the video shown by the Israeli army of the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Yahya Sinwar – which he said shows him with his family in a tunnel on the night of 7 October, 2023 – Al-Duwairi pointed out this video represents a “glorification of Sinwar and not condemnation of him.”
Not a 5-star hotel!
He explained the video shows the Hamas leader and the main planner of Operation Flood of Al-Aqsa living a difficult life inside the tunnels, not in a 5-star hotel, adding that he is the head of a family and is being directly targeted, and it is natural for him to seek to put his children in safety.
Al-Duwairi added the fact that Sinwar and his children lived for a year in the tunnels represents a sacrifice that must be appreciated, and he believed that the occupation’s attempt to use this video to condemn Sinwar may backfire, as he can be seen as a resistance leader who sacrifices his personal life for his cause.
Al-Duwairi believes that this video refutes the accusations directed at Sinwar and other Hamas leaders that they live a life of luxury, and that what appeared is that these leaders are not looking for a life of luxury, but seek to liberate the land, protect its honor, and are ready to die for the sake of God according to Al Jazeera.
