Palestinians congregate at the location of Israeli airstrikes on homes and residential structures in Beit Lahiya within the northern Gaza Strip on October 20, 2024. — Reuters
Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip are experiencing 'unspeakable horrors,' according to the United Nations' top aid official, who called for an end to 'these atrocities.' Israel launched a significant air and ground offensive on October 6, aiming to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping in northern Gaza, thereby tightening its grip on the war-torn region and forcing tens of thousands to flee.
'Appalling news from northern Gaza where Palestinians continue to endure unspeakable horrors under siege by Israeli forces,' stated Joyce Msuya, the UN's acting humanitarian chief, on X. 'In Jabaliya, people are trapped under the rubble and first responders are blocked from reaching them.'
'Tens of thousands of Palestinians are being forcibly displaced. Essential supplies are running out. Hospitals, overwhelmed with patients, have been hit. These atrocities must stop,' she added.
Gaza's civil defence agency reported that an extensive Israeli military operation had resulted in over 400 deaths in the north within two weeks. Gaza's health ministry confirmed that two patients at the northern Indonesian Hospital perished during an Israeli siege on Saturday, while the Israeli military reported its troops were operating in the area.
The World Health Organisation's director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, highlighted that the Indonesian Hospital's generator was struck, leaving it without power and leading to the deaths of two critical patients. 'Hostilities in the vicinity of hospitals can quickly make them non-functional by compromising access. We cannot request any more loudly: health care must be protected,' he stated.
The WHO plans to dispatch a mission to Kamal Adwan hospital in the north on Sunday to deliver fuel, medical supplies, blood, and food, and to transfer critical patients to Al Shifa hospital. 'It is vital that Kamal Adwan and Al Awda hospitals remain operational,' he urged, calling for safe and sustained access to patients and health workers in need, and an immediate ceasefire.
Muhannad Hadi, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, noted that Israeli forces had increased pressure on the Indonesian and Al Awda hospitals to evacuate, but patients had nowhere to go. Kamal Adwan is treating two-thirds of the over 370 hospital patients in northern Gaza, mostly trauma cases, despite critically low supplies of beds, medicine, and fuel.
Since Friday, an urgent UN request to access northern Gaza to aid in rescuing 'dozens of injured people trapped in rubble' remains unfulfilled by Israeli forces. 'Every minute counts and these delays are life-threatening,' he said.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also appealed to Israeli forces to halt their attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza. 'This is purely and simply a collective punishment imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, who must choose between being forcibly displaced from the north or killed. We fear that this will not stop,' said Anna Halford, MSF's emergency coordinator in Gaza.
'Israel's allies bear a heavy responsibility for this dire situation, caused by their unwavering support for the war,' she added. The conflict was ignited by Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. Israel's campaign to crush Hamas and rescue hostages has claimed 42,519 lives in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas-run health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable.
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