Tareq S. Hajjaj
Mondoweiss / October 9, 2024
Israel laid siege to Jabalia in northern Gaza on the anniversary of October 7. Residents tell Mondoweiss that the Israeli army is forcibly conscripting civilians as human shields and shooting residents who attempt to evacuate.
The eight members of Nasser Hamouda’s family woke up to the sound of intensive shelling and bombing near their home in Jabalia, northern Gaza. As they tried to have a look from the window, the nearby bombing intensified. Quadcopter attack drones were covering the sky and the sound of approaching tanks grew closer.
It was 6 a.m. when families started calling each other, trying to understand what was happening, since no one had received any evacuation orders from the Israeli army. In the time it took people to get their bearings and formulate a plan, the tanks were already between their houses. Those who had not managed to leave were now trapped.
The Israeli army launched a surprise invasion of Jabalia on Sunday morning, coinciding with the first anniversary of October 7. Jabalia residents who have survived a year of genocidal bombardment and multiple rounds of displacement found themselves caught up in yet another Israeli onslaught that employed much of the same tactics that have been used throughout the past year. These have included the destruction of hospitals, mass displacement, and killing civilians who refused to evacuate and stayed in their homes.
The new military operation in Jabalia is taking place north of Gaza City, and has focused on Jabalia and Beit Lahia. The Israeli army said that the 162nd Division had begun operating in Jabalia overnight on Sunday following intelligence that Hamas was attempting to “rebuild its operational capabilities in the area.” The army statement added that the 401st and 460th Brigades had “successfully encircled the area” and would continue to operate until it dismantled Hamas’s “infrastructure.”
Coinciding with the invasion, the military spokesperson of the al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeidah, made a speech on the first anniversary of October 7, stating that the resistance would continue to confront Israel in a “long and painful war of attrition.”
Jabalia residents who spoke to Mondoweiss say that they have noticed the resistance regroup in the wake of every Israeli invasion of Jabalia. One resident, Raneem Mousa, told Mondoweiss that people know Hamas is rebuilding itself in Jabalia. “We see their work above ground, and we hear their work below ground as well.”
Trapped in a warzone
Jabalia residents were surprised to find the Israeli tanks among them with barely any warning signs. Most of them could not evacuate and were locked in their homes with very little available for them to survive. The Hamouda family decided to evacuate since they didn’t have any supplies to withstand a long siege.
“We have sick and elderly people, and women and children,” Aya Hamouda, a survivor from Jabalia, told Mondoweiss.
Aya and her family chose to raise a white flag and walk out onto the street after 7:30 a.m., hoping that the Israeli army wouldn’t shoot. Aya and her brother Abdulrahman say that when they walked into the road holding up a piece of white fabric the quadcopters shot at them. In the chaos, the family was separated; some kept running and made for the road leading out of the neighbourhood, while others were shot and fell to the ground.
Their father, Nasser, and their brother Ahmad were killed instantly, but no one realized in the confusion. It was only when Aya and the rest of the family were a distance away that they discovered that their father and brother were missing. Aya and Abdulrahman returned to find their missing family members.
When they arrived back at their neighbourhood, they found the area full of fire, smoke, and dismembered bodies strewn across the streets. They weren’t able to get very far, and were forced to hide in the house of a neighbour before reaching the location where the family had separated.
“My brother and I waited until we could find an opportunity to go out again and find the rest of our family,” Aya said.
At 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Aya and Abdulrahman managed to sneak behind their neighbour’s house, where they met other people in the neighbourhood. They told them that they had seen their father and brother bleeding on the ground, but no one was able to reach them.
They spent the day taking shelter at their relative’s home outside Jabalia, unable to stop thinking about their father and brother and their unknown fate.
The next day, on October 7, some people from the neighbourhood who had also attempted to escape noticed the bodies of Nasser and Ahmad and managed to drag them away to safety. When the bodies were delivered to their family, they found that stray dogs had eaten parts of their loved ones.
Residents report forced conscription of detained civilians
Raneem Mousa’s cousins, who stayed inside the invaded neighbourhood the night of October 6, witnessed an unceasing bombing campaign. Raneem says that her cousin told her how the Israeli army used some Palestinians detained from the neighbourhood as human shields, forcing them to knock on people’s doors to instruct people to get out.
“The Israeli army sent residents someone from the neighbourhood,” Raneem said, recalling her cousin’s account. “They held him as a prisoner and forced him to call on everyone in the neighbourhood to evacuate the second night.”
Raneem says that her cousin recounted how the Israeli army ordered residents to walk out of the neighbourhood in lines separated by gender. As they left they found the road was filled with dead bodies.
“My cousin came the second night and joined us in the shelter,” Raneem explains. “They were in shock and stayed silent most of the time. They said that people lay dead at their homes’ front doors and in the street. They said it was like a horror movie.”
The Israeli army invaded Jabalia last May for three weeks, leaving massive destruction and hundreds of deaths in its wake.
The Civil Defense in Gaza has reported several massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army during the ongoing invasion of Jabalia, although rescue workers have been unable to tally an exact number of casualties due to difficulties accessing the area.
“Eighteen people were killed after [the Israeli army] targeted a group of civilians near Abu Qamar Supermarket in Jabalia refugee camp,” the Civil Defense said on its Telegram channel, posting videos of its teams trying to put out a fire that broke out at a bakery near Abu Sharukh Square in eastern Jabalia. In the video, flour stores inside the bakery are set ablaze.
The Gaza Government Media Office released a statement warning of the dangerous humanitarian situation in the northern Gaza Strip, “after the occupation launched a large-scale attack on the areas of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and Jabalia for the fourth consecutive day, imposing a tight siege on the area and preventing the entry of water, food, and medical supplies.”
“The bodies of the martyrs are still in the streets, making it difficult to reach them due to the targeting of ambulance and Civil Defense crews by the occupation,” the statement added.
An estimated 400,000 people remain in the northern part of Gaza, while the areas currently under siege are estimated to contain about half that number.
The Gaza Government Media Office added that the Israeli army had ordered the evacuation of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza within 24 hours.
Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Mondoweiss Gaza Correspondent, and a member of the Palestinian Writers Union
