'Dying, Dying, Dying': Israel Told Gazans to Flee South—Where It Continues to Bomb

"The situation is catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic," said the director of a UNRWA shelter in Khan Younis. "No words in the world can describe the situation we are in."

JonQueally

October 22, 2023

The Israeli military continued to pummel Gaza with airstrikes on Sunday, including residential neighborhoods in the south, as a top IDF commander said the bombing would now intensify ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Despite urging Palestinians and others caught in Gaza to flee the northern areas, bombings that claimed the lives of yet more civilians—including children—were reported in Khan Younis and the city of Rafah.

The attacks came hours after the IDF's Rear Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south "for your own safety."

"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in." —Rawya Halas, Gaza Training College

"We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war," Hagari said, possibly hinting at the ground invasion. "We are going to increase the attacks, from today."

Graphic footage posted to social media showed wounded toddlers being transported for emergency healthcare after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis:

In an update on Saturday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the number of those killed by Israeli airstrikes, citing Gaza Ministry of Health figures, had surpassed 4,300. Of those killed, said OCHA, 62% were children and women.

The ministry itself later on Saturday put out numbers that said 4,651 people have been killed, including 1,873 children.

In a video posted overnight from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Rawya Halas, director of the Gaza Training College and head of the UNWRA shelter there, said the situation was "catastrophic, catastrophic, catastrophic."

"The situation we are in now is unprecedented and cannot be described with words. No words in the world can describe the situation we are in," Rawya added. "I beg you, save Gaza. It's dying, it's dying, it's dying. There are children, elderly and adults for whom I cannot provide. I am the UNRWA. I am the head of this shelter, and I can't offer them anything. Neither food nor water. There is nothing, nothing."

The OCHA estimates 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are now displaced and that 42% of the housing units in the territory have been damaged or totally destroyed by the IDF bombing campaign.

The Israeli military on Oct. 13 ordered all civilians in the north of the besieged Gaza Strip to evacuate towards the south ahead of an increased bombing campaign and a potential ground invasion by Israeli Defense Forces troops amassed on the border.

But even as critics noted at the time the order would be impossible to comply with for many and should be seen as the prelude to "mass atrocities," many Palestinians fled toward the south to seek refuge from the unrelenting assault and humanitarian crisis.

 

Debunked: ‘Gaza is not Occupied’

NasimAhmed

October 22, 2023

( Middle East Monitor ) – Anyone interested in the truth should ask – if Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza, why does it maintain the power to starve and withhold basic necessities? Israel wants the world to believe the myth that it “gave Gaza freedom.”

Throughout Israel’s latest aggression on Gaza, Israeli ministers have continued to spread the lie that the besieged enclave is not occupied. The purpose of this misinformation is to further dehumanise Palestinians and justify the deadly violence against 2.2 million people, half of them children.

“Look at these people, we gave them freedom and they reward us with violence, hate and terror,” that is what Israeli officials say. “Instead of turning Gaza into the Singapore of the Middle East they have turned it into a launchpad for terrorism.”

That is the lie Israel wants the world to accept.

Under the 2005 Israeli Disengagement Plan, Israel retains absolute authority over Gaza’s airspace, territory and sea. The key here is who has effective control? Does Israel pass the effective control test? Yes, it does.

Israel is manifestly exercising control over Gaza from the air, land and sea.

Israelis themselves have debunked this claim in the clearest way. When Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, and halted electricity, food, water and fuel, it was an explicit admission of effective control.

Anyone interested in the truth should ask – if Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza, why does it maintain the power to starve and withhold basic necessities? Israel wants the world to believe the myth that it “gave Gaza freedom.”

The absence of troops does not mean the end of domination and control when you hold the power to cut off basic lifelines to a people, control their border and banking system.

If Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza, why can it turn off the lights with a flip of a switch? Stop it exporting its produce? And control what can enter the Strip? The truth is obvious. And the media must stop letting Israel peddle this deadly lie.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.