October 13, 2024
The Islamic
resistance movement, Hamas, issued a statement on 13 October 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.”
The Hamas
statement comes after Israeli military strikes killed at least 29 Palestinians
in Gaza over the past 24 hours, amid a brutal siege and invasion of Jabalia in
the north of the enclave that has reached its ninth day.
The victims
included eight members of the Abu Ghali family, whose home was bombed in an
Israeli strike 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 said 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 7 October,
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.
“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.”
“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, 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,” says Haydar, an
MSF driver trapped in Jabalia camp.
The World Food
Programme (WFP) said Saturday that the main crossings into north Gaza have been
closed, and no food aid has entered since 1 October.
“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.
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 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 Israel’s enemy of its defeat is “the settlement, and Jewish
children walking in its streets.”
As Israel
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.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on UN Interim Forces in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) to evacuate the border between Israel and Lebanon on 13 October, amid
ongoing resistance by Hezbollah fighters to Israel's ongoing ground operation.
Addressing
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu said Sunday in a
Hebrew-language message, "It is time for you to withdraw UNIFIL from
Hezbollah strongholds and from the areas of combat."
"The
IDF has repeatedly asked for this, and has been met with repeated refusals, all
aimed at providing a human shield to Hezbollah terrorists," says
Netanyahu.
"Your
refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah,"
says Netanyahu. "This endangers both them and the lives of our
soldiers."
Israel
has endangered the lives of UNIFIL soldiers on several occasions in the past
week.
On
Friday, UNIFIL soldiers were injured, one of them critically, after an Israeli
tank opened fire at one of the international mission's observation towers in
Naqoura, south Lebanon.
On
Thursday, at least two other UN soldiers were injured by an Israeli attack.
On
Tuesday, Hezbollah ordered its fighters not to attack Israeli forces who
established a forward operating base behind UN troops near a Lebanese border
village, effectively using them as human shields.
The
Israeli attacks on UNIFIL personnel came as Hezbollah fighters put up fierce
resistance to Israel's ongoing ground operation to conquer territory in
southern Lebanon.
Al-Mayadeen's
correspondent in South Lebanon reported Sunday morning that more than 20
Israeli soldiers were killed and injured in ambushes and confrontations with
Hezbollah fighters in Ramia.
In
a series of statements, Hezbollah confirmed its fighters targeted gatherings of
Israeli soldiers in multiple attacks near Ramya using guided missiles and
explosive devices.
After
nearly two weeks of combat, Hezbollah has killed 14 Israeli soldiers, according
to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
As
Israel seeks to invade Lebanon for the fourth time in 50 years, its troops face
a well-trained, well-armed, and highly-motivated Hezbollah force operating in
rocky terrain mined with explosives and full of hiding places.
Jonathan
Conricus, who previously fought with the Israeli army in Lebanon and served as
an Israeli liaison officer to UNIFIL, told AFP, "The topography is very
challenging for an invading force and convenient for an enemy like
Hezbollah."
"The
terrain also allows multiple ways for a defending enemy to use anti-tank
missiles and IEDs against a conventional army," he added, referring to
improvised explosive devices.
In
his final speech days before his assassination, late Hezbollah
secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel about the dangers of trying to
invade and occupy parts of southern Lebanon.
"This
security belt will turn into a quagmire, a trap, an ambush, an abyss, and hell
for your army if you want to come to our land," he warned on 19 September.
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