Israeli siege of north Gaza leaves 5,000 dead, missing after 100 days

After 100 days of brutal attacks that have only gotten worse as a result of Israeli military negotiations, about 5, 000 Palestinians have been killed or missing in the northern Gaza Strip.

A medical source told Al Jazeera on Sunday that another 9,500 Palestinians had been hurt as a result of the Israeli military operation that began in the north in early October.

The Israeli siege, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office, is “the most horrific form of ethnic cleansing, displacement, and destruction” that has affected hundreds of thousands of residents of the war-ravaged region, according to Sunday’s government media office in Gaza.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said north Gaza is now a “ghost area” of vast destruction and rubble, but some people have managed to stay alive there, refusing to leave.

“Palestinians are being routinely targeted in every location in the Gaza Strip,” said the statement. It doesn’t matter where you are – if you’re in a school, a shelter, a makeshift camp or even a hospital”, she said.

The fate of its arrested director Hussam Abu Safia is unknown, and the most renowned hospital in the north, Kamal Adwan Hospital, was destroyed in the middle of the siege.

The siege continues unabated as settler groups and Israeli politicians openly discuss the possibility of establishing settlements in north Gaza.

Witnesses reported on Sunday afternoon that Israeli forces had killed two Palestinians in the northern Gaza city’s Mukhabarat neighborhood. A young man was later killed in the Shati refugee camp by Israeli drone fire.

Overnight, there were heavy Israeli attacks on the northwestern areas of Gaza City. In a separate school-turned-shelter in north Gaza’s Jabalia, which the Israeli military called a Hamas “command and control center,” at least eight Palestinians were killed on Saturday when the Israeli military directly hit the site.

In five days, there were at least 70 fatalities.

Unrelenting attacks are also frequently carried out in other areas of the enclave, including the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where some of the most recent attacks have been reported every day.

In the northern portion of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the Israeli military issued a second forced evacuation order on Sunday, aimed at residents who reside in residential blocks. Residents were warned that if they didn’t leave the area, they ran the risk of dying.

At least 70 children have been killed in the enclave alone by the Israeli army in the past five days, according to the Gaza Civil Defense on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet to travel to Qatar along with other top representatives to advance negotiations over the release of Palestinian prisoners and captives as they ramp up the Israeli attacks.

As US officials attempt to reach a ceasefire and release deal before Biden leaves office on January 20, the White House reported.

According to the statement, Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid facilitated by a ceasefire in the fighting under the agreement.”

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, stated earlier on Sunday in a statement to CNN’s State of the Union programde that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal but still needed to move it past the finish line.

However, Israeli leaders have emphasized that the conflict will continue regardless of an agreement and that they will continue to be in military control of the region despite continuing to occupy Syria, southern Lebanon, and the West Bank.

Far-right ministers in the administration are still opposed despite yet another significant demonstration against the Israeli government and in favor of a deal in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.

In case of a deal, Netanyahu was scrambling on Sunday to make sure finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir don’t abandon his ruling coalition, threatening its stability.

The Israeli military continues to obstruct the entry of most aid into Gaza, creating an unsafe environment that has prompted the armed looting of aid convoys, which is still a dire humanitarian situation.

In Gaza’s famine-like conditions, Israeli forces continue to attack hospitals and direct residents to evade, forcing thousands of families to brave the open or sleep inside decaying tents.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), nearly all of Gaza’s 1.1 million children need mental health and psychosocial support amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment, repeated displacement, and catastrophic living conditions in the winter cold.

At least 19, 000 Palestinian children have been orphaned, according to the UN, since the start of the 16-month-long conflict in Gaza.

Since the start of the war, the Israeli military has killed at least 203 journalists, many of whom were killed in January.

Source: Aljazeera