‘Genocide unfolding’: 640 Palestinians killed in north Gaza in 17 days

Rescue workers banned from accessing besieged areas, making it difficult to get the exact number of people killed.

Israel has killed at least 640 Palestinians in north Gaza since it laid siege to the area 17 days ago – 33 of them since dawn on Monday.

“Genocide is unfolding on the ground,” said Al Jazeera’s Tarez Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. “Civilians are trapped in their houses and there’s a mass blackout. Food, water, and medicine have run out.”

While Israeli air attacks have hit several areas across Gaza, the concentration of its army attacks remains in the north, particularly Jabalia refugee camp, Abu Azzoum said.

Meanwhile, Palestinian women forced to flee north Gaza said the Israeli army is separating and arresting dozens of men at checkpoints, Al Jazeera English network reported.

Abu Azzoum said rescue workers recovered the bodies of five Palestinians killed in the southern Rafah City. At least 18 others were killed and several people injured in an Israeli shelling in Jabalia, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Two Palestinians were also killed in north Gaza’s as-Saftawi area northwest of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israeli soldiers are surrounding the United Nations schools sheltering displaced people at Jabalia.

In a statement, the UN Human Rights Office said Israeli forces demolished a block of homes in Jabalia on Monday, while also hitting at least three UNRWA schools there.

Israel “may be causing the destruction of the Palestinian population in Gaza’s northernmost governorate through death and displacement”, amid continuous bombardment across the besieged enclave, the UN body said.

The onslaught was the latest episode in Israel’s brutal onslaught that has killed more than 42,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured 99,800 others since October last year – although the numbers are likely to be far higher with thousands of victims buried underneath the rubble.

(Al Jazeera)

Despite Israel claiming to have defeated Hamas in northern Gaza and Jabalia in early January this year, it launched yet another offensive there in what the UN and Palestinian rights groups now fear is an effort to empty it of Palestinian residents.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority said “genocide” is happening “in its clearest form and in full view of the world – marked by siege, starvation, forced displacement, destruction of buildings, aerial bombardment, targeting of health centres, and mass killings”.

“The occupation army is forcing residents of northern Gaza to either flee under bombardment or face killing in what resembles a circle of certain death,” the PA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The failure of the international community to stop this “war of extermination has emboldened Israel to continue its deadly campaign”, it added.

Humanitarian workers and health authorities in Gaza say most aid has not reached northern Gaza due to heavy Israeli bombardment.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, also reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israeli forces are “invading homes, forcibly evicting residents”. “People are crying out for help,” she said.

“[They] feel unheard despite their efforts to share their experiences online. They record videos, yet they remain trapped. With no food, no aid, and no support reaching them, they continue to suffer as the relentless Israeli air attacks persist,” she added.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies