Optimistic reports of advancements in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, with Egypt, Qatar, and US mediation, over a ceasefire deal has been reported as Hamas sent Egypt the names of those Israeli prisoners destined to be released during the first phase.
This coincides with intensive Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. In the past 12 hours, Israel killed three people as a result of an airstrike near Halabi Junction in Jabalia Al-Balad, northern Gaza Strip. Israeli quadcopters also fired heavily at citizens attempting to reach their homes in the Safatwi area, west of Jabalia.
Nearly 70,000 Palestinians have been trapped for two months without access to food or medicine, as Israeli occupation forces continue to pursue them throughout the northern Gaza Strip. This ongoing situation has resulted in numerous deaths and forced displacements in what many consider one of the most horrific campaigns of genocide in modern history.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has received alarming reports about the dire situation facing the nearly 70,000 Palestinians who are trapped in the northern Strip. This follows the displacement of more than 150,000 people by the Israeli army since the onset of its most recent military operation in the north on 5 October 2024. Euro-Med Monitor notes that those who remain besieged are experiencing severe famine, as they have run out of all types of food and lack access to clean water. Many have gone days without eating or drinking anything. Meanwhile, Israeli bombings and other military operations continue, targeting shelters as well as what remains of previously destroyed homes.
No one can rescue those stuck under the rubble due to the Israeli bombings, as Israel has been blocking civil defense teams from operating
Deliberate bombing
The Israeli army has deliberately bombed homes where civilians sought refuge. The most recent incident occurred on Sunday, when the occupation army targeted the Labad family home in Beit Lahia, resulting in the killings of 25 family members. Just two days earlier, Israeli forces also bombed three residential buildings in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, which belonged to the Baba, Al-Araj, and Ahmad families. This attack killed more than 120 residents, leaving an unknown number of victims still trapped under the rubble.
70 thousand Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza face starvation, extermination in one of the largest genocidal campaigns in modern history. People are dying horribly – an unknown number trapped under rubble, and the injured dying of their wounds. https://t.co/GolQMlJhil
No one can rescue those stuck under the rubble due to the Israeli bombings, as Israel has been blocking civil defense teams in the northern section of the Strip from operating for 41 days now. Consequently, the injured are slowly dying without medical assistance, as they cannot be transported to hospitals, which are unable to function properly under such dire conditions and are frequently subjected to bombings. Furthermore, those who manage to survive their injuries and reach partially operational hospitals face the risk of being targeted by Israeli drones. Even if they do make it to a hospital, they may still die due to a lack of adequate treatment and insufficient medical personnel.
Numerous incidents have occurred in which Israel has used drones, including quadcopters, to target Palestinian civilians who were compelled to leave their homes or shelters in search of food or water.
The Israeli occupation army is committing severe crimes against civilians. Its attempts to completely eliminate the residents of the Jabalia refugee camp have included destroying homes using robots and booby-trapped barrels, in addition to dropping powerful American bombs. Despite Israeli forces’ awareness of the presence of residents in many of the homes and residential blocks, these sites are still being targeted.
The Israeli army has turned Jabalia Camp, the city of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia into piles of rubble, devastation, and total destruction, by wrecking, demolishing, and burning homes and shelters, and targeting all aspects of Palestinian life. As a result, even if the Israeli army withdraws from these areas, it will be nearly impossible for Palestinian civilians to return and live there safely.
The world witnesses these horrific crimes, yet no serious action has been taken to stop what is now considered to be one of the largest genocidal campaigns and humanitarian tragedies in modern times.
This international disregard for the victims constitutes an indelible stain on the forehead of the international community, which continues to exclude Palestinians from the protection of international law and its executive mechanisms. These mechanisms have failed to be applied effectively, due to political biases and international pressure. This situation reflects a global hypocrisy regarding the principles that the international legal system is built upon, demonstrating shameful double standards and a blatant violation of justice and humanity.
The international community’s hesitation to take decisive action in response to Israel’s violations in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the Strip’s northern regions, makes it complicit in these crimes. This inaction serves as a tacit approval for Israel’s actions, allowing it to continue escalating its campaign of genocide, and demonstrates a shocking disregard for the lives and dignity of Palestinians.
It is imperative that the United Nations and the international community intervene immediately to protect 10s of thousands of residents of northern Gaza who are in imminent danger, plus stop the ongoing genocide being perpetrated by Israel across the entire Gaza Strip for the second consecutive year. Actions should include imposing sanctions on Israel, implementing a comprehensive arms embargo, holding the country accountable for its actions, and taking all necessary measures to safeguard Palestinian civilians. Additionally, the enforcement of the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense must be prompt, ensuring their surrender to international justice.
Each day brings fresh horrors as the Israeli military ramps up its extermination campaign in North Gaza.
Over the past few days, as the US was distracted by the long weekend, the Israeli military escalated its tactics of starvation, targeting aid workers, bombing shelters, and psychological warfare.
This includes the destruction of 54 Merkava tanks in 52 days
It is being called the “massacre of tanks.” The destructive toll of Israeli tanks and military vehicles Al Qassam Brigades inflicted in the northern Gaza Strip over the past 52 day has reached reached 110.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have been in the forefront of a battle
against the Israeli occupation army in the northern Gaza since 5 October, and despite the stifling Israeli siege and the violent bombardment of the area that does not stop day and night, and squadrons of drones over the skies of the area.
Despite this however, Palestinian resistance fighters succeeded in carrying out dozens of attacks on the occupation forces.
Al Jazeera monitored the military statements of the Qassam Brigades since the beginning of the Israeli military operation and showed the Qassam Brigades targeted 54 Merkava tanks, 27 armored personnel carriers, 26 military bulldozers (D9), and 3 Hummer jeeps.
According to the Hamas data, Al Qassam fighters carried out 40 attacks on Israeli vehicles with Yassin 105 shells, 39 attacks with explosive devices, and 13 attacks with tandem shells.
Qassam fighters pursued Israeli tanks and vehicles in Jabalia city and camp, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, Al-Tawam area, Tel al-Zaatar, Al-Fallujah, Al-Saftawi Junction, Al-Hawoz Al-Turki area, Al-Qassasib neighborhood, eastern cemetery of Gaza City, Al-Khazindar area, Al-Atatra, and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.
On 5 October, the occupation army began a ground invasion of the northern Gaza Strip under the pretext of “preventing Hamas from regaining its strength in the area.” The Palestinians say Israel wants to occupy the northern Gaza Strip and turn it into a buffer zone after displacing its residents.
With American support, Israel has been waging a war on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023, which has left more than 146,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded – most of them children and women – and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that has killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
Families fleeing from besieged areas of northern Gaza are leaving homes and shelters with just the shirts on their backs, Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Coordinator for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told UN News on Saturday.
Speaking from an UNRWA school in Gaza City, which is in the north of the Strip, Ms. Wateridge said that, for almost 50 days, UN humanitarian missions have attempted to deliver supplies to northern Gaza, including besieged areas such as Jabalia, but access to those in desperate need has been extremely limited.
Louise Wateridge: I have heard absolutely horrific stories today, speaking to families who fled Jabalia for their lives. They say there was just nothing left. It was absolutely flattened. There was death around them. They ran out of food. They had no access to water.
They reached UNRWA schools like this one, searching for safety but, days after arriving, airstrikes which killed many of the people sheltering here. And we’ve seen six such incidents on UN school shelters.
Since this siege began, we have had this horrible situation where people are forced to flee for their lives from the besieged north; they come to Gaza City looking for safety, but the danger just keeps following them. Death and destruction are their shadows.
Louise Wateridge: As far as the eye can see, every building is damaged and destroyed. You might see a stairwell riddled with bullet holes, or an exposed living room hanging out of a third-floor apartment, signs that there was once life here.
Around 300,000 people are now in Gaza City and it’s just rubble. That’s why people are forced to shelter in these UN facilities, because there is just nowhere else to go.
With winter coming, people are trying to find some kind of cover and safety, and protect themselves from the elements. They need tarpaulins, tents and shelter. They don’t have blankets or mattresses. They are just out in the in the open.
UN News
Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Spokesperson (middle) following the administering of polio vaccination in UNRWA’s Deir El Balah health center.
UN News: How difficult is it to get aid in?
Louise Wateridge: For almost 50 days, access to besieged areas of north Gaza has either been denied or impeded. People have no access to food or water. We’ve heard people say they drank water from puddles to survive.
The eight UNRWA water wells in Jabalia are all damaged and destroyed. The hospitals have been hit on multiple occasions, and all of the UNRWA health clinics are out of medication.
Many humanitarian workers have been injured and killed themselves since the start of this war. Are they still at risk?
Louise Wateridge: Yes, every day. There is absolutely nowhere safe in Gaza.
247 UNRWA colleagues have been killed in this war.
Time and time again, day in and day out, our colleagues and their families are being injured and killed.
Every day my team and I wake up, the first thing we do is text each other to make sure everybody made it through another night.
For some weeks, we have had colleagues scattered across the Gaza Strip. Sometimes you lose contact with each other for days, if not weeks on end, and we don’t know how they are.
Sometimes we find out our colleagues have been killed and we haven’t known for a few days. Sometimes they come back online. It’s desperate.
Multiple United Nation convoys have been shot at. I was in a convoy in July that was shot at delivering supplies to northern Gaza.
It’s becoming more dangerous and more difficult for humanitarians to do their jobs by the day.
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