LAST UPDATE | 20 Oct
AT LEAST 87 people are dead or missing after an Israeli airstrike attack on the north Gazan city of Beit Lahiya, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Many more remain trapped under the rubble and the death toll is expected to rise.
The Israeli military said it struck a “Hamas terror target”. It added that the toll figures given by Gaza authorities “do not align” with the information it possessed.
Beit Lahiya and the other northern cities of Jabalia and Beit Hanoun have been under Israeli siege for the last 16 days. No food, water or medical supplies have entered the area since the siege began.
Internet connectivity went down in northern Gaza yesterday and has not been restored, making it difficult to gather information about the strikes.
Palestinian political party Fatah, the controlling group in the Palestinian Authority, said it holds “the Israeli occupation government fully responsible for the bloody massacre”, according to reporting from Al Jazeera.
“Palestinian people are being subjected to an organised war of extermination led by the far-right government in Israel with the utmost criminality and hatred,” Fatah added.
Yesterday, Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said that more than 400 Palestinians had been killed in the north over the past two weeks during an ongoing military assault Israel says is aimed at preventing Hamas militants from regrouping.
“We have recovered more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip, including Jabalia and its camp, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, since the start of the military operation by the occupation army”, civil defence agency spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, told news agency AFP.
“There are dozens of bodies scattered in the streets of Jabalia due to continuous shelling.”
The Israeli military press department when contacted by AFP said it was “checking” the reports.
Meanwhile, medical NGO Doctors Without Border (MSF) has condemned the Israeli sieges of three hospitals in the area.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health and health workers on the ground, Israeli forces are currently besieging and targeting the Indonesian, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals.
MSF said more than 350 patients are reported to be trapped inside, including pregnant women and people who just underwent surgical operations.
Those patients need continuous medical treatment and are unable to leave the hospitals.
“The ever-worsening escalation of violence and non-stop Israeli military operations that we have been witnessing over the past two weeks in northern Gaza have horrifying consequences,” says Anna Halford, the charities emergency coordinator in Gaza.
MSF said in a statement that tens of thousands of people remain trapped in Jabalia camp “under daily bombing, including six of our staff unreachable due to electricity blackout, while one of our colleagues was killed after sustaining injuries from shrapnel”.
“This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between being forcibly displaced from the North or killed. We fear that this will not stop,” said Halford.
“Israel’s all-out war on Gaza seems to have no end in sight. Israel’s allies bear a heavy responsibility for this dire situation, caused by their unwavering support for the war.
“They must immediately do everything in their power to obtain a sustained ceasefire. Not tomorrow, not in a week. Now,” she added.
Dr Mohammad Salah, acting Director of Al-Awda hospital, said as part of statement issued by ActionAid Ireland that the ongoing siege and attacks on northern Gaza have displaced 350,000 people, adding that Israeli forces have “specifically targeted healthcare facilities”.
ActionAid Ireland’s CEO Karol Balfe said: “After two weeks of a brutal siege on northern Gaza, the situation is near-apocalyptic.”
“With each passing day that peace is delayed, the international community remains complicit in the deaths of innocent civilians who are being systematically deprived of food, water, medicine and hope. A ceasefire isn’t just urgent – it’s a moral imperative.”
Observers and critics have accused Israel of laying the groundwork for a permanent occupation and annexation of the north.
Last week, Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party issued invitations to an event on the topic of establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The event is set to take place this week and features the pro-settlement group Nachala, whch said it would not be a “theoretical” conference.
“The return to settlement in Gaza is no longer just an idea but a process that is already in advanced stages, with government and public support,” the settler movement said.
All Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are illegal under international law.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has said today that he remains “deeply concerned by the humanitarian situation, especially in Northern Gaza, and by reports that access for medical NGOs is being restricted”.
“Reports of attacks on more hospitals in Gaza, where staff are caring for the sick is utterly reprehensible.
He said the bombardment of the civilian population and infrastructure “must end immediately”.
“For so long now, so many children have been killed. For the children who have so far survived, the lasting psychological impact will be profound.
“The world needs to do more to bring about a ceasefire. We can’t continue to watch the horror unfold. Israel needs to start listening and stop their war on Gaza.”
He added that in the coming week the Government will receive new legal advice from the Attorney General regarding July’s International Court of Justice ruling on the illegality of Israel’s settlements in Palestine.
With reporting from AFP and Press Association
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