DaysofPal- The Israeli Occupation Forces “IOF” have escalated military attacks on Gaza City as part of a broader campaign to occupy Gaza City, driving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, already starving, into another wave of forced displacement.
Neighborhoods such as Zeitoun, Sabra, Remal, and Tuffah have been heavily pounded in recent days.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the Israeli plan to force civilians southward will only deepen their suffering.
In Zeitoun, relentless bombardments have devastated the area and forced thousands of families to flee. On Sunday, at least seven Palestinians were killed when an Israeli air raid struck al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
That same day, IOF announced that tents and equipment would be provided to displaced Palestinians, people who have already been uprooted multiple times throughout the 22-month war, which rights groups widely describe as genocide.
In Deir el-Balah, residents were caught off guard by sudden artillery shelling and heavy airstrikes.
Zeitoun district is one of Gaza City’s most crowded areas, where families who had sought refuge there were shocked when the shelling began, and some tried to stay, but as attacks intensified, many were forced to flee again, hungry, broken, and leaving everything behind.
‘Another Wave of Genocide’
Last week, IOF declared plans to push further into Gaza City and expel its residents to the south, a move that has triggered international outrage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, said that civilians must evacuate to the south, which will aggravate their suffering.
Nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people are already displaced, and famine is tightening its grip.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health said seven more Palestinians died of starvation in a single day, raising the death toll from hunger to 258, including 110 children.
On Sunday alone, Israeli strikes killed at least 57 Palestinians, 38 of them people waiting for aid, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to nearly 62,000.
Hamas denounced the Israeli tent plan as a cover for mass expulsion, calling it “a new wave of genocide” and “a blatant attempt to disguise a brutal crime.”
Hunger and Desperation
With Israeli bombardments continuing, desperate Palestinians are left scrambling for whatever food they can find.
The UN says one in five children in Gaza is malnourished, and many families survive solely on small portions distributed by charity kitchens.
“I came at 6 am to the charity kitchen for my children,” said Zeinab Nabahan, displaced from Jabalia. “If I don’t get anything now, I have to come back later. My children live on tiny amounts of lentils or rice. They haven’t had bread or breakfast—they just wait for me to return with something, anything.”
A Manufactured Famine
On Sunday, UNRWA warned that Gaza is suffering a severe “man-made famine” and urged a return to a UN-run humanitarian distribution system.
“We are on the verge of losing our collective humanity,” said UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma, condemning efforts to replace the coordinated aid system with a politically motivated alternative backed by “Israel” and the US.
Moreover, the World Food Program reported that aid supplies currently reach only 47 percent of those in need, leaving nearly 500,000 people on the edge of famine. The agency stressed that only a ceasefire would allow food deliveries to be scaled up to adequate levels.
Gaza’s Government Media Office accused the Israeli occupation of deliberately starving Palestinians by blocking essentials like baby formula, meat, dairy, and even frozen vegetables. In a statement, it said the Israeli occupation was carrying out “a systematic policy of engineered starvation and slow killing against more than 2.4 million people, including over 1.2 million children, a crime of genocide.”
It warned that more than 40,000 infants are suffering from severe malnutrition, with at least 100,000 other children and patients at similar risk.
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