DEIR ALBALA, Gaza Strip (AP) – Palestinian officials and residents said Wednesday that a major Israeli operation in northern Gaza has left dozens dead and three hospitals closed a year into the war with Hamas. He said there was a risk of being exposed.
Heavy fighting has been taking place in Jabaliya, where Israeli forces conducted several large-scale operations during the war and then returned as the militants rallied. The entire northern region, including Gaza City, has been severely destroyed and largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.
The cycle of destruction and death in Gaza caused by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 continues, with Israel expanding its week-long ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and launching a large-scale attack on Iran. This is happening as retaliatory attacks are being considered.
Lebanese rockets killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday, and six others were injured in a series of stabbings in the city of Hadera, which Israeli police said was an attack by militants. did. Police said the attacker had been “neutralized” and indications were that he had been killed.
Hezbollah claimed that the attack on Kiryat Shmona targeted a “collection of enemy forces.” The town’s deputy mayor, Ofir Ehezkeri, said the two people killed were a couple walking their dog.
Residents of Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war over Israel’s creation, said thousands have been trapped in their homes since the operation began on Sunday. Israeli jets and drones soar overhead, and troops battle militants on the streets.
“It’s like hell. I can’t get out,” said Mohamed Aouda, who lives with his parents and six siblings. He said there were three bodies on the street outside his home that could not be recovered because of the fighting.
“Quadcopters are everywhere, shooting at everyone. You can’t even open the windows,” he told The Associated Press by phone amid the sounds of explosions.
Dozens killed, survivors fear evacuationThe Gaza Health Ministry said it had recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya between Sunday and Tuesday, and 14 more from communities further north. It is believed there may be more bodies under the rubble or in inaccessible areas.
At least nine people, including two women and two children, were killed in the Jabaliya airstrike early Wednesday, according to Al Ahly Hospital, which received the bodies. A further nine people, including three children, were killed in the strikes in central Gaza, according to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said at least 16 people were killed and another 17 injured in an Israeli attack on tents sheltering displaced Palestinians near Yemeni Saeed Hospital in Jabaliya. said. The casualties were taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital.
Jabariya residents fear that Israel is trying to depopulate the north and turn it into a closed military zone or Jewish settlement. Residents said Israel had closed all roads from Jabaliya to the south except for the main road.
The United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency said it had evacuated seven schools used as shelters and that only two of the eight wells in the camp were still functioning.
“We are concerned about displacement to the south,” Ahmed Kamal, who lives in Jabaliya with his wife, children and parents, said in a text message. “The people here have clearly said they are going to die in northern Gaza and not go to southern Gaza.”
hospitals under threat
Fadel Naeem, director of Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital, said his hospital had received dozens of injured people and bodies from the north. “We have declared a state of emergency, canceled scheduled surgeries and discharged patients in stable condition,” he told The Associated Press in a text message.
Israeli attacks have destroyed Gaza’s medical sector, forcing most hospitals to close and remaining hospitals to be only partially functional.
Naeem said three hospitals further north – Kamal Adwan Hospital, Aouda Hospital and Indonesian Hospital – were nearly inaccessible due to the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry said the Israeli military had ordered all three to evacuate staff and patients. Meanwhile, no humanitarian aid has entered the north since October 1, according to UN data.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the apparent halt to hospitals and aid deliveries in the north.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said late on Tuesday that Israeli forces were conducting an operation in Jabaliya to “thwart Hamas rally efforts” and killed about 100 militants, without providing evidence. said. Israel has targeted only militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas fighting in residential areas.
Israel ordered a mass evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the early weeks of the war, but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to remain there. Israel reiterated those instructions over the weekend, calling on its people to flee south to expanded humanitarian zones where hundreds of thousands of people are already crammed into squalid tent camps.
The war began exactly one year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. They still hold about 100 hostages, a third of whom are thought to be dead.
The Israeli attack has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, but it does not say how many of them were fighters. More than half of the dead were women and children. The attacks also caused staggering destruction across the territory, with approximately 90% of the 2.3 million population displaced, often multiple times.
Israel warns Lebanon could become like Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until “complete victory” against Hamas and the return of all hostages.
He warned on Tuesday that Lebanon would suffer the same fate as Gaza unless its people stood up against Hezbollah, which began firing rockets at Israel after the first Hamas attack. This began a cycle of escalation that culminated in the outbreak of all-out war last month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Lebanese people: “We have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will bring the kind of destruction and suffering we see in Gaza.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Wednesday that an Israeli airstrike killed four people and wounded 10 more at a hotel sheltering displaced people in the southern Lebanese town of Wardanieh.
An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets before the attack. Smoke billowed from the building after the explosion.
Israel has waged a major air campaign in recent weeks across much of Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah rocket launchers and other suspected militant strongholds. A series of airstrikes killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his senior leaders.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah has fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and drones into Israel over the past year.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Kareem Chehaib in Beirut and Natalie Meltzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
