The situation in northern Gaza is “apocalyptic” as Israel pursues a military offensive against Hamas militants in the area, top United Nations officials warn.
“The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence,” they said in a statement signed by the heads of UN agencies, including the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the World Food Programme, and other aid groups.
Israel began a wide military push in northern Gaza last month.
The United States has said it was watching to ensure that its ally’s actions on the ground show it does not have a “policy of starvation” in the north.
“Humanitarian aid cannot keep up with the scale of the needs due to the access constraints. Basic, life-saving goods are not available. Humanitarians are not safe to do their work and are blocked by Israeli forces and by insecurity from reaching people in need,” they said.
They urged all parties fighting in Gaza to protect civilians and called on Israel to “cease its assault on Gaza and on the humanitarians trying to help”.
Israel’s UN mission in New York declined to comment on the statement.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon last month told the Security Council that the issue in Gaza was not a lack of aid, saying more than a million tons had been delivered during the past year.
He accused Hamas of hijacking the assistance.
Hamas has repeatedly denied Israeli allegations that it was stealing aid and says Israel is to blame for shortages.
Relatives mourning Palestinians who died as a result of Israeli attacks on a five-storey building in Beit Lahia, Gaza on 29 October, 2024. Source: Getty / Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut
On Monday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza without medical or food supplies.
Reuters could not verify the number independently.
Israel bombards Gaza and Lebanon
Medics in Gaza said about 68 people were killed and dozens injured on Friday morning in Israeli strikes on the city of Deir Al-Balah, the Nuseirat camp and the town of Al-Zawayda, all in Gaza’s central area, as well as in its south.
Fourteen people were killed by an Israeli strike at the gate of a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat, according to medics at the camp’s Al-Awda Hospital. Another 10 were killed in a car in Khan Younis, medics said.
Hours later, residents said Israeli tanks advanced on the northern and eastern sides of Nuseirat, and medics said an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including three children.
Israel also pummelled Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday morning with at least 10 strikes, Reuters journalists said. It was the first bombardment of the area – once a densely packed district and Hezbollah stronghold – in nearly a week.
Earlier, Israel issued evacuation orders for 10 separate neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital.
Israeli strikes hit more than a dozen towns in the Baalbek region of Lebanon on Friday, leaving at least 50 dead, according to the region’s governor, Bachir Khodr. He told Reuters more bodies were still under the rubble.
A cultural group said some cracks were visible in the UNESCO-listed Roman ruins in Baalbek due to nearby Israeli strikes.
The Israeli military said it had killed Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab in an airstrike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and described him as one of the last surviving high-ranking members of Hamas responsible for coordinating with other groups in Gaza.
Since Israel launched its offensive against Gaza in October last year, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities.
Hamas-led militant’ October 7 attack on Israel last year killed 1,200 people, taking around 250 hostages. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
About 90 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have been displaced from their homes, often multiple times.
