DayofPal– Gaza residents displaced from Jabalia and northern governorates will not be allowed to return home as Israeli ground forces are getting closer to the complete annihilation of northern Gaza, the Israeli army said in a media briefing.
In what appears to be the first official acknowledgment from Israel that it is systematically removing Palestinians from the area, Israeli army officer Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that since troops had invaded some areas twice, such as Jabalia camp, “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes”.
Thus, he further asserted that humanitarian aid would be permitted to “regularly” enter the southern part of the Gaza city, but not the north, claiming no remaining civilians in that region.
Experts in international humanitarian law have condemned this approach, characterizing it as constituting war crimes, specifically forcible expulsion and the weaponization of food.
Despite that the Israeli army and government have repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee, rights groups and aid agencies have said that Israel appears to be carrying out a version of the “generals’ plan”, which proposes to annihilate the north deeming anyone as a combatant.
For more than a month, the Israeli army has imposed a tight siege on northern Gaza, specially Jabalia, killing over 1800 Palestinians and wounding other 4000 thousands amid media blackout, disruption of civil defense and medical work.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Beit Lahiya’s struggling Kamal Adwan hospital, posted a video of patients fleeing from the top floors of the building as it was hit by Israel’s artillery fire.
The ministry of health issued yesterday a last distress call for all humanitairian organizations to provide blood donations, medical specialists, and ambulances after all medical crews of the hospital were detained by the invading Israeli army and dozens of patients succumbed to their injuries due to lack of blood units, medications and specialists.
Israel cut the the Gaza Strip in two last year by creating what it calls the Netzarim corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.
In Tuesday’s briefing, Cohen also confirmed that northern Gaza has now been split again, to divide Gaza City from the more rural north.
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