Aid organizations flag scarcity of resources in besieged northern Gaza while Israel denies starvation plan

Aid organizations flagged the scarcity of resources in north Gaza on Tuesday as Israeli forces pressed on with their incursion into the northern part of the strip for the eleventh consecutive day on Tuesday, laying siege to Jabalia camp.

Airstrikes continued to target homes, farmlands, and roads, particularly those linking Gaza City to the North Gaza Governorate.

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered a plan to depopulate and install military control in northern Gaza, Israeli forces have cut off the flow of aid into the area, with food, fuel, medical supplies, and water in short supply.

Israeli officials told the media that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had denied that the starvation plan was being implemented in a phone call to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. 

Joyce Msuya, acting undersecretary-general for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned on Monday that essential supplies for survival are running out in northern Gaza, stating that no food aid has been allowed to enter since October 1.

No aid has entered northern Gaza since the incursion began on October 6, the Gaza Civil Defense Directorate said on Tuesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza called for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the north, including medical supplies for the region’s three hospitals “already under immense strain, struggling to meet the rising needs.”

The lack of supplies has compounded the danger for many families stuck in their houses amid constant Israeli fire at street level as well as from the sky.

Yahya al-Madhoun, a journalist from northern Gaza, told Mada Masr that Israeli forces continued to deepen their operations on Tuesday, using explosive-loaded robots and barrel bombs to destroy homes in Beit Lahia and advancing along the western areas of north Gaza all the way to the suburbs near Jabalia camp in the east.

Although around 50,000 people have been displaced from the north since Israel launched its ground operations in the area, according to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands remain trapped in their homes without access to supplies and unable to leave. Roads out of the north have been partially blocked, and the road further south is also policed by Israeli forces at checkpoints who have opened fire on those attempting to pass.

The Gaza Civil Defense Directorate reported on Tuesday that its teams are trapped alongside residents in northern Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to target them with drones, obstructing them from reaching the wounded.

Ahmed al-Najjar, a medical doctor, was killed while trying to rescue the injured in the Fallujah area near Jabalia camp, according to Madhoun.

Working through the difficult conditions, civil defense teams recovered 69 bodies and rescued 94 injured individuals, the directorate reported on Tuesday. Over the 11 days of the ongoing Israeli incursion, the directorate said, 16 families who were trapped in dangerous areas were evacuated.

In another strike on Tuesday, seven civilians were killed when a house and a gathering of people were targeted with airstrikes in the Saftawi neighborhood, located between Gaza City and the besieged North Gaza Governorate, Madhoun said.

In its Tuesday statement, the ICRC stressed the need to respect and protect medical facilities, as well as ensure the safety of the 400,000 civilians trapped in northern Gaza “amid intense ongoing hostilities and evacuation orders.”

Capacity at north Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital has been severely depleted, with Israeli forces besieging the hospital and ordering it to evacuate yet again. Medical teams, however, have refused to leave.

“All possible precautions must be taken to ensure they remain unharmed,” said the ICRC. “People must be able to flee safely without facing further danger.”

Msuya, meanwhile, said, “There really is no safe place in Gaza for people to go.”