Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said that over 100,000 people, primarily women and children, remain trapped in the besieged northern Gaza Strip. 

Speaking to the Lebanese news network Al-Mayadeen on Sunday, Basal described a dire situation, where there are no available medical services, and the global community, which often champions democratic values, is observing Gaza’s suffering without intervention.

Basal reported that Civil Defense is receiving continuous calls from residents in northern Gaza urgently seeking help to rescue the injured and recover the deceased from the rubble. 

He said that the medical personnel in northern Gaza are civilians, as Israeli forces have hindered the operation of any formal medical systems in the area.

AL-JAZEERA: Three Palestinians were killed and others were injured in a bombing of a house in the Al-Jurn neighborhood in Jabalia Al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/cudTpG0HzD

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 3, 2024

Basal also highlighted critical shortages of food and medicine, recounting that 137 bodies remain under the debris of a building recently destroyed in Beit Lahia. 

Despite repeated appeals, no international organization has responded to the Civil Defense’s pleas, according to Basal’s account.

The spokesperson further noted that over 1,300 fatalities have been recorded in northern Gaza since the intensification of the Israeli blockade began less than a month ago. 

The region, including Jabaliya Camp and Beit Lahia, has been under siege for 30 days amid relentless aerial and artillery attacks, leaving thousands dead or injured and cutting the area off from the rest of Gaza.

On Friday, the United Nations issued a stark warning about the “apocalyptic” conditions in northern Gaza, cautioning that the population faces imminent threats of disease, starvation, and violence. 

AL-JAZEERA: Two Palestinians were killed and others were injured in an Israeli bombardment of Jabalia al-Nazla, north of the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/pILNiiyJsu

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 3, 2024

Ongoing Genocide

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza. 

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7. 

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,341 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,105 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Three people were killed and a number wounded in an Israeli bombing of a house in Jabaliya al-Balad, in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Zc6OWxFc3n

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 3, 2024

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’. 

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children. 

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(Al-Mayadeen, PC)