Israeli forces continued to push deeper into the Jabalia area on Saturday amid heavy air and ground bombing, as troops pressed on with a week-long offensive in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army launched a renewed assault on the area on 6 October, as it seemingly began to implement the so-called “general’s plan“, which aims to empty northern Gaza of its 400,000 residents to make way for a “closed military zone”.
The Israeli military’s war jets and artillery have since been striking Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, trapping thousands of people in their homes. The densely populated area has been encircled and besieged for a week, with no food or water coming in.
At least 220 people have been killed since the start of the operation, according to the civil defence in Jabalia.
Conceived by retired Major-General Giora Eiland, “the general’s plan”, which was launched in an Israeli TV campaign in September, called for the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, warning that those that remained would face starvation.
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According to a report published on Friday in the Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, the Israeli military was now implementing a “scaled-down” version of the plan in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.
Israeli air raids continued to pound the area on Saturday and on Friday the army struck four houses in the camp, killing 22 people and wounding dozens, medics said.
In addition to Jabalia, Israeli forces were deployed into the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, ordering residents to leave their homes and head south.
Earlier this week, residents of the Jabalia camp told Middle East Eye that they weren’t given any prior warning before the start of the incursion, whereas on previous occasions, they had been given 24 hours to leave.
“The soldiers suddenly entered from all areas and closed off all the exits from Jabalia,” Abed Ali, a camp resident, said.
Even as the Israeli army has ordered people to leave Jabalia, the ferocity of the air and ground attacks have made it impossible for most residents to flee safely, with quadcopters constantly flying overhead.
‘The soldiers suddenly entered from all areas and closed off all the exits from Jabalia’
– Abed Ali, camp resident
Residents said there were no safe areas in Gaza to flee to and many have said they preferred to stay.
People in Jabalia are also reporting that food and water supplies are dwindling fast. The United Nations has meanwhile expressed concern over severe shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in northern Gaza, and said there was a risk of famine there.
The Palestinian health ministry said Israel’s threats to evacuate three hospitals operating in northern Gaza by force put the safety of patients and medical staff at risk.
Medical staff at the besieged Kamal Adwan hospital have described the situation as “catastrophic”, with the lives of children in its overcrowded intensive care unit at risk amid dwindling fuel and medical supplies.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed on Saturday in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, including in the southern city of Khan Younis and in Gaza City in the north.