Over 300 people have been murdered in Israel’s “general plan,” a project aiming to mass exterminate and ethnically cleanse the north of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have imposed a military siege on Palestinian residents in the North since October 4. Since that date, the IOF has created the deadliest situation since the beginning of the genocide, posing the “greatest threat” yet to Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat.
Jabalia — Gaza’s largest refugee camp — has been one of the primary targets of the Zionist state's final solution for the North. In addition to the indiscriminate killing, the Israeli regime has blocked all aid from entering the North since the start of October to facilitate the genocide further. Palestinians in Kamal Adwan Hospital posted a video emphasizing that no food, drink, or medicine has entered northern Gaza in over 25 days. The besieged area has been depleted of all basic necessities.
A total extermination campaign is being carried out through land and aerial attacks on the 400,000 Palestinians who remain in the North. Videos of the IOF’s tanks barreling across the ruins of Jabalia refugee camp have surfaced online. Threatening leaflets have once again been dropped throughout the area, demanding Palestinians immediately evacuate the camp, in an attempt to wage psychological warfare. However, before this most recent evacuation order, quadcopters were already circling the camp's skies and firing at anyone in sight.
In an interview with Middle East Eye, a camp resident said that “dozens of bodies are lying in the streets and no one is able to reach them or identify them or treat them in any way.”
Residents of Jabalia said that there was no warning given by the IOF before the ground invasion began. Most people have no choice but to shelter in place, with no supplies.
Despite the evacuation order, there is no safe place in Gaza to which individuals can flee. Palestinians, once again, are faced with the impossible decision of sheltering in an area encircled by the IOF, or attempting to escape by directly crossing through the path of danger.
Human rights attorney Craig Mokhiber expressed how distressing the situation in northern Gaza has become in a post on X. Mokhiber writes, “The people of Jabalia in Gaza are being systematically exterminated by Israel right now. Men, women, children, infants, are being massacred by siege, tank fire, air strikes, armed drones and more. What will it take for the world to stop this monstrous regime? #JabaliaMassacre.”
Dr. Ezzideen Shehab, who works out of the Indonesian Hospital located in the North, has shared that the hospital was forced to “completely shut down due to the continuous bombing targeting anything that moves around it.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent is also being targeted. Medics could not gain access to those injured by Israel’s attack because their ambulances were being targeted and attacked by the IOF, reports Al Jazeera.
On Sunday, Oct.13, the IOF bombed tents where displaced Palestinians were sheltering and receiving medical care at the Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. Witnesses caught the hellish scene on video. A young man, later identified as 20-year-old Sha’ban Dalou, is seen lying on a stretcher, attached to an IV drip: flames are burning him alive. He was unable to escape, and people were unable to rescue him due to the intensity of the fires.
While covering the aftermath of the attack, Journalist Motasem Dalloul reported that four people were martyred, and over 40 were injured. A few hours earlier, not far from Al-Aqsa Hospital, the IOF bombed Al-Mufti school in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, killing another 22 displaced people.
On X, Al Jazeera journalist Hind Khoudary wrote, “Victims of yesterday’s attack are crying out in pain from severe burns, but the hospital has no burn creams or painkillers.”
Without the resilient Palestinian journalists who have remained in Gaza during the genocide, obtaining critical on-the-ground coverage and circulating that information beyond the besieged enclave would not be possible. They remain committed to their work, even under active threat from the IOF. Just recently, on Oct. 9, Fadi al-Wahidi, a journalist for Al Jazeera, was deliberately targeted and shot in the neck while wearing his press jacket and reporting live. Due to his injuries, al-Wahidi is now paraplegic.
Dr. Yara Hawari reminds that the genocide in Gaza is also a war on the free press. She writes on X, “The Israeli regime is trying to eliminate all the journalists in northern Gaza.” Israel is doing everything in its power to silence Palestinians who are facing the ultimate threat of extinction. This has undoubtedly affected the rate at which we, as outsiders, receive updates on Gaza.
As the genocide in Gaza pulls everyone deeper into the abyss, Israel’s criminal invasion of Lebanon has not halted. On Oct. 12, Israel struck Nabatiyeh’s old market killing at least 15 people, while leveling the historic marketplace and destroying a century-old mosque in a border village. On Oct. 14, Israel bombed a residential building in Aitou village in Zgharta, northern Lebanon, killing 24 people. The building was housing displaced people who fled Israeli bombing in the south.
