“No end to hell,” wrote Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, on X about the situation in northern Gaza.
“At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.”
He said that many people were refusing to listen to evacuation orders “because they know too well that no place anywhere in (the Gaza strip) is safe.”
The conflict began in October last year after Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel and killed an estimated 1200 people and abducted about 250 others, including soldiers, women and children.
So far, about 42,000 Palestinians have died since Israel began a retaliatory campaign against Hamas, according to Palestinian Health Ministry.
Dozens of people were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on Jabalia, in northern Gaza, Palestinian sources reported.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said one strike killed 15 people, targeting the courtyard of a hospital and hitting tents sheltering displaced persons.
The Israeli military said it is verifying the reports.
At least 60 people, including a journalist, are said to have been killed in the area since this morning, WAFA reported, citing medical sources. The information could not be independently verified.
Israel’s army has been battling in the area for five consecutive days, according to local officials.
The operation is also endangering the ongoing polio vaccination campaign, Lazzarini added.
A few days ago, the Israeli army launched a fresh ground incursion into northern Gaza.
Israel said the Islamist group Hamas is attempting to regroup in the Jabalia area.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Hamas and its allies on October 7, 2023.
Members of the militia and other gunmen killed over 1,200 people and abducted around 250 more into the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Israel has been waging a war in an attempt to destroy Hamas both as a military formation and political organisation.
Palestinian death toll passes 42,000 in Gaza
This has led to thousands of Palestinian deaths, including thousands of Hamas fighters and leaders.
The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Gaza war over a year ago has risen to 42,010, according to figures released by the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza on Wednesday.
A further 97,720 Palestinians have been injured since October 7, 2023, the ministry said.
The figures do not distinguish between civilians and fighters and cannot be independently verified, but international organisations such as the United Nations consider them to be largely credible, according to agency reports.
The recent advances in the north were reportedly primarily directed at the Shejaiya district in Gaza City and the refugee settlements of Jabalia and Nuseirat.
Palestinian rescue workers described the attacks as extremely intense, saying that in most cases they could not reach the injured due to the heavy fighting.
Hospital doctors said that nine members of one family were killed in a single Israeli airstrike on a residential building.
The information could not be independently confirmed and the Israeli military has not yet commented on the incident. (dpa/NAN)
