Sharon Zhang
Truthout / December 10, 2024
“The situation in northern Gaza is beyond catastrophic,” north Gaza journalist Hossam Shabat reported.
Israeli forces have reportedly killed dozens of members of the same family in a strike in northern Gaza, as the last main hospital in the region is rapidly being destroyed by Israeli strikes and raids.
Gaza medics have said that at least 25 people were killed by an Israeli attack on a multi-story building in Beit Hanoun, with dozens of others injured in the strike. According to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor head Ramy Abdu, the strike killed 40 people in the same family, while Middle East Eye reports that at least five children are dead and there are many people still left under the rubble from the attack.
Gaza health officials said that this strike and others by Israel across Gaza on Tuesday have killed at least 34 Palestinians. However, as a Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson told Middle East Eye, there are many Israeli attacks occurring in north Gaza that are going unreported due to a communications blackout and Israel’s violence and crackdown on movement in the region.
According to Al-Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat, one of the only journalists left in north Gaza, Israeli forces have already destroyed 90 percent of the buildings in the region, forcing many to seek shelters in schools that are also targeted by Israeli forces.
“The situation in northern Gaza is beyond catastrophic,” Shabat reported last week. “Now, thousands of people are sleeping on the streets without any shelter, with women and children forced to sleep on the ground. The end goal is to make northern Gaza uninhabitable in order to ethnically cleanse the remaining
Israel has also been working to systematically dismantle all health services left in north Gaza as part of its ethnic cleansing campaign.
Last week, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, once the last fully operational hospital in the area, forcing patients and staff to evacuate and killing several physicians. According to Med Global and one of its physicians, Kamal Adwan Director Hussam Abu Safiya, Israel used over 100 shells and bombs in its targeting of the facility, leaving one of the hospital’s buildings without electricity, oxygen and water.
This is endangering the lives of 112 patients left in the hospital, including six in intensive care and 14 children, according to the organization. There are also patients injured by recent Israeli attacks waiting in the hospital’s emergency room unable to be seen because the hospital is at capacity.
“The situation is extremely dangerous. We have patients in the intensive care unit and others awaiting surgeries. Access to the operating rooms is only possible after restoring electricity and oxygen supply,” Safiya said in a statement on Monday. “This is a critical situation. The bombardment and gunfire have not ceased; planes are dropping bombs around the clock. We are uncertain of what lies ahead and what the army want from the hospital.”
These attacks come as U.S. reports claim that Hamas and Israeli officials have returned to ceasefire negotiations with Qatari and U.S. mediators.
Israeli officials had previously been staunchly opposed to a ceasefire in Gaza, with reports of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outright sabotaging the talks. It’s unclear if the current ceasefire talks will be successful — and Netanyahu has pledged to continue the assault for now — but conditions have changed for Israeli officials since the last round of talks, with Donald Trump winning the U.S. presidential election last month, Israel and Hezbollah reaching a ceasefire agreement and Israel now occupying the demilitarized “buffer zone” in Syria.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
