As part of its expanded operations, Israel’s military increased its airstrikes against Gaza City, forcing tens of thousands of frightened Palestinians to flee once more.
As a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that Israel’s plans to forcibly relocate Palestinians to southern Gaza would cause their suffering, Zeitoun, Sabra, Remal, and Tuffah have recently been the focus of Israeli bombardments.
Zeitoun has seen the evacuation of thousands of families, with days of constant strikes leaving the area devastated. An Israeli airstrike hit the Gaza City al-Ahli Arab Hospital on Sunday, killing at least seven people.
The Israeli military also stated on Sunday that the Palestinians who have been displaced repeatedly throughout the past 22 months of conflict, which has been referred to as a genocide by various human rights organizations, will receive tents and equipment to build shelters.
According to Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, who was based in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, many people have been forced to leave their homes by the force of air raids and artillery fire.
“There are many families who have been sheltering in the Zeitoun neighborhood, which is a very densely populated area. When the intense air raids and artillery shelling began, residents were surprised. Some stayed, others did. Others began to move. Many were forced to flee as the violence grew, leaving behind everything, according to Khoudary, who described the situation as “hungry, devastated, and displaced yet again.”
“New wave of genocide”
Israel’s announcement last week, which has drawn international condemnation, led to Israel’s plans to expand its presence in Gaza City and relocate its residents to the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, and he claimed that, despite having been repeatedly bombed, civilians would be relocated to “safe zones.”
Nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians are still internally displaced, and a sizable portion of them are currently starving. In Gaza, according to the ministry of health in Gaza, at least seven more Palestinians died from starvation in the city on Sunday, increasing the conflict’s death toll to 258, including 110 children, as a result of Israel’s ongoing siege of the area.
Nearly 62, 000 Palestinians have been killed since the war started in October 2023, compared to 38 of the total number killed by Israel on Sunday, bringing the total to almost 62, 000.
Hamas denounced Israel’s plan to establish tent camps in the south as a cover for widespread displacement.
The organization claimed in a statement that the measure constituted a “new wave of genocide and displacement” and that it was intended as “blatant deception intended to cover up a brutal crime that the occupation forces are preparing to execute.
After Israel’s most recent forced displacement order, Maram Humaid, Al Jazeera’s online correspondent from Gaza, posted on X, there was a sense of desperation in Gaza.
“The emotions that people in Gaza are currently experiencing cannot be adequately expressed.” Everyone is filled with fear, helplessness, and pain as they face a new wave of displacement and an Israeli ground operation, she posted.
The WhatsApp groups for “Family and Friends” are filled with sorrow and silent screams. God is aware of the extent of suffering people have endured. Our minds are nearly completely paralyzed by thought.
As more Israeli forces bombard them, Palestinians who are homeless and needy are frantically looking for food.
According to the UN, one in five children in Gaza are malnourished because so many people rely on charity kitchens for their only meal of the day.
Zeinab Nabahan, a refugee from the Jabalia refugee camp, told Al Jazeera, “I came at 6am to the charity kitchen to get food for my children, and if I don’t get any now, I have to come back in the evening for another chance.”
“My kids only eat rice and lentils in small amounts.” No breakfast or bread has been served to my children. They have been waiting for me to leave the charity kitchen with everything I can get.
Tayseer Naim, a different resident, claimed that he would not have survived if it hadn’t been for the charity kitchens and the God of the universe. We arrive at 8 am and stifle getting rice or lentils. We leave at noon and walk for about a kilometer without getting too bad.
“Man-made famine”
UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, issued a warning on Sunday that Gaza is in “man-made famine” and called for a return to the UN-led distribution system.
In a post on X, Juliette Touma, the agency’s communications director, wrote that “we are very, very close to losing our collective humanity.”
She claimed that “deliberate attempts to replace the UN-coordinated humanitarian system through the politically motivated “GHF”” had contributed to the crisis.
She warned against the “brings dehumanization, chaos, and death” that Israel’s and the US’ alternative system constituted by a unified, UN-led coordination and distribution system. The abomination must end.
The World Food Programme (WFP) claims that despite its teams “doing everything,” the current supply levels in Gaza only reach 47% of the goal.
The UN agency claims that around 500,000 people are currently “brink of famine,” and that only a ceasefire would increase food assistance to the necessary levels.
Israel was purposefully starving Palestinians, according to the government media office in Gaza, by preventing access to essential products like meat, fish, dairy products, and frozen fruits and vegetables, including baby formula and nutritional supplements.
In a statement on Telegram, Israel claimed that it was engaged in “a complete crime of genocide” by “propagating a systematic policy of engineered starvation and slow killing against more than 2.4 million people in Gaza, including more than 1.2 million Palestinian children.”
It made the warning that at least 100 000 other children and patients are in a similar situation while more than 40 000 of their peers are suffering from severe malnutrition.
Aid workers are having a difficult time adjusting to the collapse of resources, according to Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza City.
“We’re attempting to do our best,” the statement read. We are a component of this social fabric. While Israel threatens to use its plans to forcefully evacuate Gaza City and enslave the rest of the country, we are connected to the people who live here. 1.1 million people live here, the majority of whom are elderly, women, children, and those with disabilities, according to Shawa.
