'We are under siege from all sides': Israeli attacks on northern Gaza continue
Gaza War For over a week now, the Israeli army has besieged northern Gaza, including the Jabalia refugee camp, and is carrying out airstrikes. Tens of thousands of people are trapped in their homes or shelters. The area is also cut off from aid supplies.
In the shadow of the war in Lebanon, the Israeli army is busy with a new invasion of the northern Gaza Strip. For more than a week, the attacks have been concentrated mainly on the Jabalia refugee camp, but the nearby Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia are also under siege and bombarded with airstrikes.
The army has ordered the population of the north to move south to the coastal strip of al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are already staying. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 200 people have been killed so far in the recent Israeli attacks on the north, including children, women and the elderly.
Israel says Hamas has regrouped in northern Gaza, and that Hamas fighters were the target of the attacks. Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, posted a message on Telegram about an attack on Israeli soldiers storming a house in Jabalia. However, Israel's Haaretz newspaper, citing unnamed military and security sources, reports that the army did not directly hit Hamas fighters when it entered Jabalia.
Meanwhile, there are fewer and fewer journalists in Gaza to cover the situation in the north. More than 120 journalists have been killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Foreign press is still not allowed into the Gaza Strip. Last week, Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck while reporting on the siege of Jabalia. He is currently in critical condition.
The renewed attacks and repeated orders for the population to leave have raised new international concerns about forced displacement and ethnic cleansing . Haaretz spoke to Israeli defense officials who believe the political leadership is pushing for gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip.
The siege and the “evacuation orders” for this area suggest that the Israeli army is implementing – in whole or in part – the so-called “general plan.” This “general plan” refers to a plan by former army leaders, including former general Giora Eiland, whereby the population of northern Gaza would either be forced to leave, starve to death due to the blockade, or surrender. Anyone who remained would also be considered Hamas fighters.
The Israeli news website Yedioth Ahronoth speaks of a “smaller and preliminary version” of this “plan” in Jabalia. Eiland himself told CNN that the current siege is inspired by his plan, but differs in some respects. In northern Gaza, no humanitarian aid has arrived at all since the beginning of October, the World Food Programme (WFP) reports . In addition, several central bakeries have been closed due to the ongoing airstrikes. “These people have nowhere to go and the WFP can hardly reach them,” WFP writes. The organization is “no longer able to distribute food in any form to families who desperately need it.”
