Thousands trapped as Israeli military issues evacuation orders for residents to move towards the south of the enclave.
At least 22 people, including women and children, have been killed in an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as Israeli forces press on with their ground assault in the area.
As the death toll mounted on Saturday, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for northern Gaza with instructions for residents near Jabalia to evacuate to the south of the enclave.
The Israel military launched a deadly offensive in the Jabalia area a week ago which it claims is aimed at stopping Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. The attacks have trapped thousands of Palestinian civilians, international charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said.
Hamas on Saturday slammed the Israeli army and said its “massacres are a continuation of the ongoing criminal genocide against our people, shielded by American support”.
The attack that wounded more than 90 people was an attempt to “punish the population for their resilience and rejection of displacement”, the group said in a statement.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Saturday that Israeli fighter jets bombed a multistorey apartment block in Jabalia on Friday night, hitting four inhabited homes and killing 22 people.
At least 30 people were injured, and 14 people remain missing and are believed to be buried under the rubble, according to Wafa.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, media’s Hani Mahmoud said that “powerful explosions were heard in the northern part of the Gaza Strip”, adding that many of the casualties were “arriving at the hospital either in pieces or soaked in blood”.
The situation is “dire”, he reported, as the hospital has also been ordered by the Israeli military to cease operations. But he said it continues to treat patients ranging from those severely injured to newborns.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Saturday that the escalating violence in northern Gaza was “having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families”.
No food aid has entered since October 1, the United Nations agency said, noting that the main crossings into the north have been closed.
Food supplies running out
Food distribution points, kitchens and bakeries have been forced to shut down because of air strikes, military ground operations and evacuation orders, it said.
“The north is basically cut off and we’re not able to operate there,” said Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine, adding that “safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need”.
In Gaza City, at least three people were killed and several more injured after a separate strike hit a home in the Tuffah neighbourhood, according to Palestine Red Crescent Society paramedics.
The Israeli military posted a map of northern Gaza on social media platform X on Saturday with instructions for residents in the vicinity of Jabalia to leave.
“The area must be evacuated immediately via [Salah al-Din Street] to the humanitarian area,” the post said, referring to so-called Israeli-designated humanitarian safe zones between al-Mawasi and Deir el-Balah.
The “humanitarian area”, already populated by overcrowded tent camps housing about one million displaced Palestinians, has been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli military.
But Palestinians, especially those in the northern parts of the enclave, are refusing to leave their homes, said media’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah.
“This is not the first ground operation of the Israeli army in Jabalia. Palestinians say they prefer dying in their homes because they believe that there is no place safe across the Gaza Strip, so even if they evacuate they might get killed on the way,” she reported.
Amid the evacuation order, MSF project coordinator Sarah Vuylsteke wrote on X that “nobody is allowed to get in or out” from within Jabalia itself, adding that “anyone who tries is getting shot”.
Five MSF staff were trapped in Jabalia, she said.
Earlier, MSF criticised Israel’s efforts to “forcefully and violently push thousands of people from northern Gaza to the south”.
Meanwhile, Gaza-based media Arabic correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote on X in the early hours of Saturday that the condition of media cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi has “deteriorated seriously”.
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