At least 34 killed across Gaza as Israeli army escalates assault in north

Residents in northern Gaza’s Jabalia say Israeli tanks reach heart of camp amid siege and telecommunications blackout.

Israeli strikes across the besieged Gaza Strip have killed at least 34 Palestinians, the Ministry of Health says, with many of the casualties reported in the northern part of the enclave, where Israeli forces have stepped up their ground assault.

Residents of Jabalia in northern Gaza said on Friday that Israeli tanks had reached the centre of the refugee camp, using heavy air and ground fire, after pushing through suburbs and residential districts.

They added that the Israeli army was destroying dozens of houses on a daily basis from the air and the ground and by placing bombs in buildings, then detonating them remotely.

Videos verified by Al Jazeera showed heavy smoke enveloping a heavily damaged building in Jabalia and chaotic scenes as people ran for cover amid heavy Israeli shelling.

At least 15 of the people killed on Friday died in Jabalia as Israel continues its crippling siege of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya.

There were also reports of a telecommunications blackout as Israeli military vehicles and a large number of soldiers advanced towards the Jabalia refugee camp from several directions.

The Israeli military said on Friday that it sent another army unit to support its forces operating in Jabalia after it renewed its ground offensive there two weeks ago.

Jabalia is the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps and has come under repeated Israeli bombardment. It has also witnessed several ground assaults since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October last year.

Residents in Jabalia and nearby towns said cuts in communications and internet services disrupted rescue operations by ambulance teams and the ability of people affected by Israeli attacks to seek help.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said confrontations in Jabalia are “raging”.

The camp “has been denied access to essentials – medical and humanitarian supplies – by the Israeli army,” Azzoum said.

He quoted witnesses as saying the camp is undergoing “a genocide”. “Families have been getting killed inside their homes in Jabalia. … The vast majority of hospitals there are overwhelmed with casualties.”

Medical staff exhausted

The United Nations estimated 400,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza and have been unable to leave due to intense bombardments, Israeli snipers and ground troops.

Since the latest incursion, northern Gaza has been sealed off. Israeli troops have allowed in no food, drink or medicine. Local officials said people are starving.

Also on Friday, health officials appealed for fuel, medical supplies and food to be sent immediately to three northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients and injuries.

At the Kamal Adwan Hospital, medics had to replace children in intensive care with more critical cases of adults badly wounded by Israeli air strikes on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia.

That attack on Thursday killed 28 people. Israel said it had targeted fighters holed up in the complex – something that Hamas vehemently denied.

Kamal Adwan’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, said in a video sent to the media that the children had been moved to another division inside the facility, where they were being well taken care of.

Doctors at Kamal Adwan as well as the al-Awda and Indonesian hospitals have repeatedly called for a humanitarian corridor and refused to leave their patients despite evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army.

Abu Safiya said medical staff were exhausted and hospital supplies, including food, were badly depleted.

Health officials said more than 450 people have been killed in the Israeli assault in northern Gaza over the past two weeks.

At least 42,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive so far.

Source

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Al Jazeera and news agencies