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Israel continues to block humanitarian missions from delivering critical supplies such as food and medicine in northern Gaza, according to the head of UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa).
Philippe Lazzarini, writing on X External, wrote: “Hospitals are without power and injured people are not cared for.”
He said that Unrwa’s remaining shelters are so overcrowded, that displaced people “are forced to live in the bathrooms”, and cited reports of people being killed while trying to flee.
Israel has intensified a weeks-long operation in northern Gaza against what they say are Hamas fighters that have regrouped. Residents and medics reported that Israeli forces besieged hospitals and shelters for refugees on Monday.
The Israeli military stated that it was facilitating the evacuation of civilians, and ensuring that hospitals remained open while it “operated against terrorists and terrorist facilities”.
Medics from the Indonesian Hospital, in northern Gaza, told Reuters that Israeli soldiers stormed a high school and detained men before destroying the building.
Palestinian media reported Monday that Israeli artillery had killed at least 10 people in a camp for displaced persons at a school located in Jabalia Refugee Camp, a densely populated urban area north of Gaza City.
The graphic videos posted by the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency in Gaza and local journalists showed at least four bodies lying on the ground, including a woman and a child, inside a tent camp.
The Israeli military confirmed that it was checking reports.
Cogat, the Israeli military organization responsible for managing the crossings into Gaza, announced that 41 aid trucks and six fuel tanks had been transferred north in the past day. Unicef was also able to deliver polio vaccinations to the northern area.
Cogat also said that 600 lorry-loads of aid were waiting to be picked up at various crossings and distributed, the majority of which was by UN agencies.
The UN has said that no aid was allowed to enter northern Gaza during the first 2 weeks of October when Israel began its offensive around Jabalia.
The UN’s acting chief of humanitarian affairs said that a “trickle”, or small amount, of aid was allowed to pass last week after the US warned Israel via a letter in which it was told to increase access within 30 days. Otherwise, some military assistance could be cut off.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said on Monday that it had asked Israeli authorities for access to the Falouja region of Jabalia for four days but was denied.
The OCHA shared a video of a Jabalia resident’s appeal for help. He said he was among 32 people buried under a building that had been externally destroyed by an air strike last Friday.
“Eighteen people got out. Fourteen people, including children, remain under the rubble. There are women and children aged 2, 3, and 4. They’re buried under rubble. Alive. Shamekh Al-Dibes: “They begged me to rescue them, but I couldn’t.”
A representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who visited Gaza City recently, said that the suffering of the estimated 400,000 people living in the north is “unimaginable”.
“Heavy fighting, and evacuation orders are tearing apart communities. Many people, including the elderly, the sick, and those with disabilities, cannot leave. Others stay, believing that nowhere is safe,” Stephanie Eller stated in a video.
She added, “Hospitals have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients and the lack of fuel, water, and electricity.” “People need food and water, medical attention, and above all, a break from the ongoing hostilities.”
Hadeel Obaid, the chief nurse of the Indonesian hospital also near Jabalia said that its water supply was cut off and there was no food for a fourth consecutive day. She also stated that the hospital required permission from the Israeli army to operate its generator.
Israel launched a campaign against Hamas as a response to the group’s unprecedented attack in southern Israel on 7th October 2023. In that attack, approximately 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, more than 42,000 people were killed in Gaza between then and now.
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