Is Israel Intensifying Its Attacks On Lebanon As A Distraction To "Ethnically Cleanse" North Gaza?
Israel launched a ground military operation in north Gaza on Oct. 6, before it imposed a total siege, cutting off more than 400,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Gaza Strip and leaving them without access to food or water.
As the world’s attention is shifting towards Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Israel is simultaneously intensifying its military operation in Gaza, particularly in north Gaza.
On Oct. 6, Israel launched a ground military operation in Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya in north Gaza, before it imposed a total siege, cutting off more than 400,000 Palestinians from the rest of the Gaza Strip and leaving them without access to food or water.
Israeli forces said that the operation is intended to eliminate armed Palestinian resistance and prevent Hamas from rebuilding its operational capabilities.
It issued evacuation orders urging Palestinians to move south to Al Mawasi, saying it had expanded the “humanitarian area”.
However, no one has been able to get in or out of north Gaza, as Israeli forces are shooting at anyone trying to flee, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
It has killed at least 300 Palestinians within nine days since Oct. 6 and is starving almost 400,000 Palestinians in north Gaza by blocking food from entering since Oct. 1, according to the World Food Programme.
Medical and civil defense teams are being attacked and unable to reach the injured, according to Palestinian officials.
Journalists trying to cover Israel’s attacks are also being targeted.
On Oct. 9, Israel killed one journalist and injured two, including Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi Al-Wahidi critically as they were covering its invasion of the Jabalia refugee camp.
Gaza’s media office said in a statement that Israel is “ethnically cleansing” north Gaza, adding that it is part of a broader plan to forcibly displace thousands of Palestinians and declare north Gaza a “closed military” zone to force Hamas to release all the hostages.
The statement added that Israeli forces are committing “massacres” and deliberately killing Palestinians by “targeting and attacking crowded areas filled with women and children.”
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
