Israeli Forces Withdraw from Northern Gaza – Extensive Damage and Casualties

Despite the massive destruction, residents of Jabaliya clean the streets of the camp. (Photo: via Gaza government media office)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The Israeli army withdrew on Friday from all areas of the northern Gaza Strip following a 20-day military operation targeting the Jabaliya refugee camp.

According to Al-Jazeera, Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Jabalia camp, Tal al-Zaatar, the Beit Lahia project, Beit Hanoun, and all northern Gaza areas, leaving behind widespread destruction, particularly in the Jabaliya camp and Beit Lahia project, due to heavy bombing.

The destruction also affected the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals.

Following the withdrawal from the region, several bodies of Palestinians were recovered.

Anadolu news agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that bodies were found in the streets of Jabaliya camp and the Beit Lahia project area after the Israeli forces had pulled out.

The withdrawal of Israeli forces from the northern Gaza Strip on Friday exposed extensive destruction, including the burning of dozens of residential buildings and significant damage to homes and infrastructure, particularly in the Jabaliya camp, according to Anadolu. 

Gaza Civil Defense spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, was cited by Al-Jazeera as saying that more than a thousand homes were destroyed in the Jabaliya camp.

Soldiers Killed 

Israeli Army Radio reported that ten soldiers from the 98th Division were killed during the 20-day operation in Jabaliya. 

Israeli occupation forces faced several ambushes during their incursion into the camp, causing many casualties among their soldiers.

The Israeli army also announced on Friday the killing of two soldiers, one from the Bisalmah Brigade, in the northern Gaza Strip, and the other from the Givati Brigade, in the southern Gaza Strip. 

Additionally, an officer from the Givati Brigade was seriously wounded, bringing the total number of wounded soldiers to 15 in the last 24 hours.

Gaza Genocide

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, 36,224 Palestinians have been killed, and 81,777 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip. 

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.

 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’.

(PC, Anadolu, AJA)

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