GAZA – The Israeli army intensified shelling of northern Gaza and closed roads, preventing the delivery of aid, the conflict-torn Palestinian territory’s civil defence agency said yesterday. 

The army, which said it surrounded Jabalia in northern Gaza at the weekend, issued new evacuation demands on Tuesday, as analysts suggested Hamas was regrouping, despite a year of strikes and fierce fighting.

“The shelling is intensifying, targeting civilians and their homes, causing significant fear and terror among the residents,” said Ahmad al-Kahlut, the agency’s director in north Gaza. The director said the Israeli army also was targeting the northern towns of
Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun along with
Jabalia.

“Roads have been closed, and there has
been a continuous siege for the fourth consecutive day, with no supplies entering the North Gaza Governorate,” he said.

He stated that “a large number” of people died in northern Gaza during the fighting.

But counting the casualties had been complicated by the “difficulty of recovery and access to all areas”.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams had transported three dead and 15 injured from the al-Rafai school in Jabalia, where displaced Gazans had sought shelter.

He said his agency had been receiving calls for help from various parts of northern Gaza, but staff had been unable to enter these areas for security reasons.

“So far, Kamal Adwan Hospital is still operational and is dealing with the injuries that the teams can recover,” he said, referring to a hospital in Beit Lahia.

Hisham Abu Aoun, head of the intensive care unit for the Friends of the Patient Hospital, said at least six children were evacuated to his hospital in Gaza City.

Amal Nasr, a resident of Jabalia, said her daughter Dana and husband Rami were both injured by gunfire while fleeing the area.

“My daughter, Dana, was shot in the neck, and my husband was shot in his leg by the occupation forces,” she said, adding that her daughter was taken to a Gaza City hospital, and was now in stable condition.

“I was injured while we were leaving our house. I was shot in the neck, and started to bleed,” Dana told AFP from the Al-Ahli Hospital. “There were many injured people in the streets of Jabalia,” she added. Gaza’s hospitals are struggling with limited supplies. The health ministry appealed Tuesday for international help, warning fuel shortages could force hospitals to close.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), said “intensified military operations” in northern Gaza forced it to halt services. This included the evacuation of seven UNRWA schools used as shelters by displaced Gazans.

The Israeli army on yesterday said operations were ongoing “throughout Gaza”.

It said Israeli troops had “eliminated” 20 Palestinian combatants in the Jabalia area, and dismantled a weapon storage facility a day earlier. The conflict in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’ 7 October attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1 206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42 010 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable. 

– Nampa/AFP