Palestinians in northern Gaza forced to flee renewed Israeli aggression

Death and displacement returned to northern Gaza as the Israeli military launched a new ground invasion yesterday after the Occupation shattered on Tuesday the ceasefire deal with Hamas and relaunched its war on Gaza, killing nearly 600 Palestinians so far.

Palestinians in northern Gaza spoke to Mada Masr of once again being forcibly displaced from their homes under heavy gunfire and continuous airstrikes as the Israeli military invaded areas it evacuated during the first phase of the now-collapsed ceasefire deal, including Bait Lahia, Salatain and Atatra, near Gaza’s northern border. Israel maintains control over northeastern and eastern areas of Gaza through heavy shelling.

The Israeli military announced yesterday a ban on movement between northern and southern Gaza via the Salah Eddin Road, allowing movement only via the Rashid Coastal Road. This follows an Israeli announcement of the establishment of a buffer zone between the north and south following its incursion into central Gaza’s Netsarim corridor on Wednesday.

Ali Maarouf, who has been displaced from Beit Lahia to Gaza City in recent days, told Mada Masr that the Israeli military has advanced approximately three kilometers into the northern town, amid heavy artillery fire and airstrikes. Many of those who had returned to their homes during the ceasefire were forced to reevacuate, he said.

The Occupation demanded people leave some areas in the north via loudspeakers and in evacuation leaflets dropped from warplanes, opening fire on homes and tents, according to Maarouf, whose family had to take the coastal road to travel to Gaza City after the shelling reached the tent they had erected over the rubble of their destroyed house.

Similarly, Rami al-Komi told Mada Masr he was forced to flee south via the coastal road in recent days out of fear for his family’s safety. Komi noted that he witnessed Israeli tanks positioned in areas not far from the coastal road, which he understood to mean that the Israeli military had almost completely reoccupied the Netsarim corridor which cuts through the middle of Gaza.

Komi told Mada Masr that tanks fired at people walking along the coastal road. In one instance, Komi said, a tank fired at a vehicle attempting to pass to the south. No one was injured in the attack.

Nasser Abu al-Qambaz, who also lives in northeast Gaza, said that Israeli forces conducted a limited incursion into areas east of the Gaza Strip, including Shujaiyya. Even during the ceasefire, he noted, Occupation forces had maintained control of an area of about 700 meters in eastern Gaza.

Abu al-Qambaz told Mada Masr that the situation in the border areas is extremely dangerous, as the artillery shelling is almost constant.

The death toll in the renewed Israeli assault on Gaza continues to rise. Five Palestinians, including three children, were killed today in an Israeli airstrike that targeted an apartment building in the Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, while several more were injured in an airstrike on the town of Maghraqa in central Gaza.

At least 506 Palestinians were killed and 909 were injured since Israel resumed its assault on Gaza on Tuesday, according to the latest estimates by the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.

The ceasefire fell apart on Tuesday following weeks of US and Israeli insistence on extending the first phase of the agreement without any guarantees that negotiations on phase two of the ceasefire would commence. Instead, the Americans and Israelis pushed Hamas to release all Israeli prisoners in order to secure an extension. 

Egypt and Qatar, who brokered the deal, have been seeking ways to restore calm in Gaza since Tuesday, with Egypt working on an emergency proposal to restore the prisoner exchange, halt the war and reallow the entry of aid, a Hamas official and two Egyptian sources previously told Mada Masr. However, Egypt has not been able to put any pressure to soften Israel’s inflexible stance since before the deal collapsed and Hamas remains adamant about securing guarantees from Israel to end the war and fully withdraw its forces from Gaza, the sources added.