Gaza’s civil defence agency Friday said at least 30 people have been killed by Israeli strikes throughout the day in northern Gaza’s Jabalia town and refugee camp amid intense combat operations by the Israeli army in the area.
The agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that a strike that occurred before 9:40 pm local time (1840 GMT) had left “12 dead, including women and children” in the town. Bassal said that 14 people were still missing and likely trapped under the rubble.
Before that incident, Ahmad al-Kahlut — director of the agency in northern Gaza — said 18 people had been killed by several strikes, including hits on “eight schools” in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced people.
In total, the day’s strikes left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Bassal and Kahlut. The Israeli military did not respond to AFP’s questions about the strikes on schools in Jabalia camp.
Last weekend, the Israeli army announced it had surrounded the Jabalia area and issued evacuation orders, as analysts suggested Hamas was regrouping there, despite a year of continuous strikes and intense fighting.
Huge portions of Gaza have been destroyed since Israel launched its retaliatory military assault on the Palestinian territory in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war on 7 October, 2023.
Israel has bombarded the Palestinian territory by land, air and sea as it seeks to destroy the Iran-backed militant group, displacing almost all of its civilian population of 2.4 million people at least once in the past year.
In total, the day’s strikes left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Bassal and Kahlut.
Last weekend, the Israeli army announced it had surrounded the Jabalia area and issued evacuationorders, despite a year of indiscrimnate Israeli bombing that has left no place safe in Gaza.
Huge portions of Gaza have been destroyed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza with the UN saying that more than 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Israel has bombarded the Palestinian territory by land, air and sea, displacing almost all of its civilian population of 2.4 million people at least once in the past year.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office confirms most of the dead are women and children.
Before that incident, Ahmad al-Kahlut – director of the agency in northern Gaza – said 18 people had been killed by several strikes, including hits on eight schools in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced people.
In total, the day’s strikes left at least 110 injured, according to figures provided by Bassal and Kahlut. The Israeli military did not respond to questions posed by the news agency AFP about the strikes on schools in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s historic refugee camps.
The Israeli military claims it has killed dozens of militants in Jabalia, without providing any evidence. Photos published from the area by news wires have shown many children among the dead. It is not possible to independently verify death tolls from the camp as Israel does not allow foreign journalists in.
The charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), meanwhile, said thousands of people remained trapped in the camp while one staff member said people trying to leave – Israel has issued widespread evacuation orders for northern Gaza – are being shot.
“Nobody is allowed to get in or out; anyone who tries is getting shot,” MSF project coordinator Sarah Vuylsteke said on X. Five MSF staff were trapped in Jabalia, she said.
“I don’t know what to do; at any moment we could die. People are starving. I am afraid to stay, and I am also afraid to leave,” she quoted Haydar, an MSF driver, as saying.
At least 15 of the fatalities in Jabalia since dawn on Friday were due to Israeli strikes targeting various areas, including a school sheltering displaced individuals, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said, citing medical sources.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said dozens were wounded by Israeli quadcopter drone fire at the same school.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has previously claimed Gaza’s militants use such shelters for cover. Hamas has denied this.
The Israeli military has sent troops into the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya as well as Jabalia. Hamas has said it will keep fighting Israeli forces.
Palestinian health officials have reported at least 130 deaths in the operation so far, while the military has told residents to evacuate areas where the UN estimates more than 400,000 people are trapped. Rescue workers have reportedly struggled to reach bodies and injured people due to Israeli fire.
Journalists have also been killed and wounded in the renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, which has also targeted hospitals, with the broadcaster Al Jazeera this week again accusing Israel of deliberately targeting them after two of its journalists were critically injured. Israel denies deliberately targeting journalists.
Al Jazeera reporter Anas Al-Sharif on Friday said in a post on X that the health of his colleague Fadi Al Wahidi, who was shot in the neck by an Israeli sniper and paralysed on Wednesday, was deteriorating and called for assistance in evacuating him from the territory.
