‘Total destruction’: No aid is reaching Northern Gaza and the hunger is getting worse

A Palestinian man looks at the damage in the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced peopl at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on 14 October 2024.

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 15 October 2024:

The humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza is worsening, with many residents reporting hunger and a severe shortage of basic supplies due to the lack of aid reaching the area.

Mahmoud, who lives with his family in Jabalya in northern Gaza and refuses to evacuate, told Haaretz that in some neighborhoods there is no fresh drinking water or any infrastructure, and residents feel they are living on borrowed time. According to him, several bakeries have already closed due to the shortage of flour. “Those who are lucky still have a few bags of pasta,” he says.

In Jabalya and Beit Hanoun, residents say that until about 10 days ago, it was still possible to buy food from improvised stalls, including some fruits and vegetables, but now even those options are gone. Residents fear that this is a deliberate policy aimed at forcing them to evacuate, lest they die from hunger or gunfire.

Hamas’ Information Ministry issued a statement claiming that Israel is deliberately intensifying its starvation and killing policy in northern Gaza. According to Hamas, “What is happening in the north is total destruction and ethnic cleansing, with the demolition of all remaining buildings that have not yet been hit or bombed in the war, along with the systematic destruction of all infrastructure. This means the implementation of a mass deportation plan.”

The crisis is also felt in hospitals, which are operating on a partial basis. On Monday, a television interview was published with the Director-General of Gaza’s Hospital Network, Dr. Munir al-Bursh, who broke down in tears when asked about the ability to provide medical assistance to those remaining in the north. He replied that the residents of the north are now at the mercy of heaven.

Meanwhile, in the central Gaza Strip, there is growing concern that Israel is intentionally targeting camps and centers housing refugees and displaced persons, in an effort to force them to relocate to a designated area and reduce their presence in makeshift shelters as much as possible.

On Monday, four people, including a woman and child, were killed in a fire that broke out in a parking lot near Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced. It said that the fire broke out following an IDF strike at the scene and that 43 other people were wounded.

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