Israeli military cuts off besieged northern Gaza from Gaza City

Israeli forces began on Sunday erecting barriers to isolate northern Gaza, particularly Jabalia, from Gaza City as the Occupation's military operation continued for its ninth day.

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers a plan to depopulate and install military control of northern Gaza, Israeli forces have cut off the aid flow to the north, limited the movement of medics and demolished Palestinian homes in the area.

Yahya al-Madhoun, a journalist from northern Gaza, told Mada Masr that the Israeli military isolated several areas in the north, with tanks stationed in the Saftawi, Jabalia al-Balad and Nazla areas, stressing that it intends to completely sever northern Gaza from the rest of the strip, adding that the complete division could materialize in the coming days as the presence of Israeli military vehicles continues to increase.

A source from Gaza’s Civil Defense also told Mada Masr that the Israeli military set up sand barriers and stationed its vehicles in several locations to cut off Gaza City from the north of the strip. 

Military vehicles are currently positioned around the civil administration headquarters in Jabalia camp and are approaching Jabalia city, the source said, adding that they are also stationed on the eastern outskirts of the city and in several areas west of Gaza City and Jabalia camp, including Bir al-Naaja, the Civil Defense headquarters and Tawam.

Madhoun noted that Israeli tanks and military bulldozers stormed the Saftawi cemetery, located between Gaza City and the north, on Sunday, and exhumed several bodies before retreating to the outskirts of the besieged Jabalia camp. 

According to the civil defense spokesperson, Saftawi was also targeted by Israeli artillery fire on Sunday, in an attack which killed two people and left several others injured.

A significant displacement wave has moved from the areas of Jabalia al-Balad and Sheikh Radwan, but thousands of displaced individuals remain trapped in Jabalia camp, the spokesperson said, as anyone trying to flee is targeted by drones. 

A statement by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday that shelling and armed clashes in northern Gaza have “severely intensified over the past week,” while over 400,000 people are still there. The UN agency also said that families remain trapped in areas of active military operations in Jabalia, which the Israeli military has barred the agency from accessing.

Near Jabalia camp, two displaced people were killed  on Sunday by shelling at the Fallujah school, which shelters displaced families.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have been also working to demolish and blow up homes left behind by displaced residents in northern Gaza, according to Madhoun. The Civil Defense spokesperson also noted that many buildings and homes in the Saftawi and Tawam areas have been demolished, with dozens of homes targeted by Israeli artillery.

Over 300 civilians have been killed since the start of the siege of the north, head of the Gaza Government Media Office Ismail al-Thawabta told Mada Masr. 

Thawabta added that the Israeli military is denying access to ambulance teams to recover dozens of bodies. The office had reported on Saturday that Israeli forces are preventing the retrieval of around 75 bodies of civilians killed during the incursion. 

“The Occupation is intent on dismantling all vital sectors in northern Gaza and rendering all hospitals in the area inoperable,” Thawabta said, noting that, for the seventh time, the Israeli military has blocked fuel supplies from reaching hospitals in the north. 

Speaking from Jabalia camp, Mohamed Obeid, the head of the orthopedics department at Awda hospital, said on Sunday that the hospital is facing severe shortages of food and water for patients and the injured after nine days of siege. In addition to lacking fuel for electricity generators, medical supplies and antibiotics, the hospital is also short-staffed for conducting vascular and neurological surgeries. A large influx of severely injured patients arrive daily, overwhelming the facility, which had a capacity of just 30 beds before the incursion, Obeid added.

A statement from the media office on Sunday stressed that all vital sectors in northern Gaza are under attack, with the Israeli military aiming to turn it into a "zone of destruction and killing" as part of its plan to forcibly displace its residents.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories, said on Sunday that Israeli forces are committing another massacre in northern Gaza. “People in Jabalia are killed — both in groups and one by one — amid unspeakable cruelty and sadism by Israelis,” who she said have accepted to be “willing executioners of a genocidal plan, with western-manufactured weapons and with western support.”