Three Israeli airstrikes targeted displaced persons’ tents at the Martyrs of Al-Aqsa Hospital square in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. According to Al Arabiya and Al Hadath reporters, these airstrikes resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens in the hospital square, causing fires in many tents.
The Israeli forces expanded their incursion into northern Gaza, with tanks reaching the northern outskirts of Gaza City. Residents reported that some areas in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood were heavily bombarded, forcing many families to leave their homes. Medical personnel reported that early Monday, three people died and 40 were injured in an Israeli air attack on some of the displaced people’s tents inside the Martyrs of Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, which houses a million people.
A video circulating on social media showed several tents on fire as some Palestinians desperately tried to extinguish them. The Israeli military claimed it targeted militants operating from a command center inside the hospital complex and accused Hamas of using civilian facilities like hospitals for military purposes, which Hamas denies. Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated the cities of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza from Gaza City, restricting movement between the areas except with a permit from the Israeli authorities for families wishing to leave the three cities following evacuation orders.
After nine days of a major Israeli operation in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run Government Media Office in the sector said Israeli strikes had killed about 300 Palestinians there. It added that Israeli bombing of civilian homes and displaced persons’ places aimed to permanently force residents to leave Gaza, a claim Israel denies.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that dozens had been killed in attacks on northern areas, and it was feared that many others had died on the roads or under the rubble of their homes without medical teams being able to reach them. Medics reported on Sunday that tank shelling had killed 22 Palestinians at a school housing displaced people in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. The Gaza Government Media Office noted that at least 15 women and children were among the dead at the school, adding that 80 people were injured. Hours earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed five children in the Beach Camp in Gaza City. Palestinian news agency and the Hamas media office reported that the children were playing near a cafe when they were struck by a drone with a missile.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incidents.
Joyce Msuya, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, posted on X, “What is happening in northern Gaza is horrifying and beyond words.”
She added, “Israeli forces are intensifying their attacks. Hospitals have had to evacuate their patients. Essential supplies are running out. People are being forced to leave their homes, are cut off from aid, and are starving. These atrocities must end.”
In light of reports from the United Nations about no food aid entering northern Gaza for nearly two weeks, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on X, “Israel must do more urgently to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need.”
Harris, a Democratic presidential candidate, added, “Civilians must be protected, and they must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.”
While Israel currently focuses its attacks on the north, it also continues to bomb other areas across the sector. The Health Ministry said that at least 34 people were killed on Sunday.
Many residents of Jabalia on social media wrote, “We will not leave, we will die, and we will not leave.”
The northern part of Gaza, home to more than half of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the sector, underwent severe Israeli bombing in the first phase of the attack on the sector. The Israeli attack began a year ago following a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, on towns in Israel, which Israel says resulted in 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages taken.
A year after the Israeli attacks, which Gaza health authorities say have so far killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of residents have returned to the destroyed northern areas.
For more than a week, Israel has redeployed its forces to the north of the sector, saying it aims to eliminate fighters reorganizing to launch more attacks. Hamas denies that its fighters are hiding among civilians.
The escalation in northern Gaza coincides with a massive Israeli aerial attack and a ground campaign on another front in southern Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
Nasser, a resident of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, said, “While the whole world is focused on Lebanon and the possibility of Israel striking Iran, Israel is annihilating Jabalia.”
He added, “The occupation is blowing up residential blocks and homes, and people can’t find anything to eat, trapped inside their homes in fear that shells will fall on them at any moment.”
The Israeli military said in a statement yesterday that its forces deployed across the Gaza Strip attacked about 40 targets and killed dozens of militants in the past 24 hours.
The statement added, “The 162nd Division continues its operations in the Jabalia area, where the forces killed dozens of terrorists yesterday and found explosives, weapons, hand grenades, and other war materials in the area.”
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and other smaller factions said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and neighboring areas with anti-tank rockets and mortar shells.
Palestinian officials and the United Nations say there are no safe areas in Gaza. They have also expressed concerns about the severe shortage of food, fuel, and medical supplies in northern Gaza and said there is a looming risk of famine there.
