A group of Palestinians, forced to leave the school where they had taken refuge in Beit Lahia, following a new Israeli evacuation order on October 19, 2024. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)
Palestinians are enduring "indescribable horrors" in northern Gaza, denounced UN interim humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya on Saturday.
"Terrible news is coming from northern Gaza, where Palestinians continue to suffer indescribable horrors under the siege of Israeli forces," Ms. Msuya stated on social media platform X. "These atrocities must stop," she urged.
Israel has been conducting aerial and ground military operations in northern Gaza since Oct. 6 to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping there.
The siege of this devastated area has forced tens of thousands of people to flee, and according to the Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip, over 400 people have been killed since the start of this Israeli military offensive, which particularly targets Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.
For Saturday alone, the toll from Israeli airstrikes on Beit Lahia in northern Gaza stands at least at 73 dead, according to the Gaza government's press office, as reported by Reuters.
"We have found more than 400 dead in the various targeted sectors of the northern Gaza governorate, which includes the city of Jabalia and its refugee camp, the towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, since the beginning of the military operation," Mahmoud Bassal, the spokesman for the Hamas-affiliated organization, told AFP.
He added that the previous count of 386 deaths included 33 deaths from an Israeli strike on the Jabalia camp early Saturday. "There are dozens of bodies in the streets of Jabalia killed by the incessant bombardments," he emphasized. This toll did not account for the fatalities of Saturday.
"In Jabalia, people are trapped under the rubble" "In Jabalia, people are trapped under the rubble and first responders cannot reach them," Joyce Msuya added.
"Tens of thousands of Palestinians are forcibly displaced. Essential goods are running out. Hospitals, overwhelmed with patients, have been hit," she described.
She reminded that international humanitarian law stipulates that civilians, injured or sick, as well as healthcare personnel and their facilities should be protected. "International humanitarian law must be respected," she insisted.
Terrible pressure on hospitals
According to the health ministry of the Hamas government, two patients died Saturday at the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia, which has been surrounded and bombarded by Israeli forces since dawn.
The generator of the Indonesian hospital was hit, cutting off electricity "which caused the death of two patients in critical condition," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Hostilities near hospitals can quickly render them inoperable by hindering access. We can only strongly reiterate: healthcare facilities must be protected," he stated in a press release.
The WHO plans a mission to Kamal Adwan hospital on Sunday to deliver diesel, medications, blood, and food, and to transfer critically ill patients to Al-Shifa hospital. "It is vital that Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals remain operational," he said, calling for guaranteed access for patients and healthcare staff and an immediate ceasefire.
"Israeli forces have increased their pressure" on the Indonesian hospital and Al-Awda hospital, UN coordinator Muhannad Hadi stated the previous day, but patients had nowhere else to go. Kamal Adwan treats two-thirds of the more than 370 hospitalized patients in northern Gaza, but its resources have never been as limited in terms of beds, medications, diesel, and supplies. Since Friday, the UN's requests for access to northern Gaza to rescue "dozens of injured people trapped under the rubble have gone unanswered by Israeli forces," he added.
"A collective punishment imposed on the Palestinians of Gaza" The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has also called on Israeli forces to "immediately stop the attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza."
"This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on the Palestinians of Gaza, who must choose between forced displacement or death. It is feared that this will never stop," said Anna Halford, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. "Israel's allies bear heavy responsibility for this situation created by unwavering support for the war," she stated.
