Gaza medics say Israeli forces have targeted rescuers attempting to retrieve the dead and wounded [Getty]
Israel’s crippling siege of northern Gaza continued into its 13th day on Thursday, with dozens of Palestinians trapped under the rubble of bombed-out buildings in Jabalia due to Israeli soldiers targeting rescuers.
Dozens of people were killed in Israeli strikes over the past days, Gaza’s Civil Defence said on Wednesday, with rescuers unable to retrieve many of the dead and wounded due to the Israeli military “targeting any moving object”.
Amid a blockade on food, medicine, and other essentials, Israel sent tanks into the Jabalia refugee camp as airstrikes and remotely-detonated explosives destroyed housing blocks.
Medics and rescuers said 11 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City on Thursday, while several were wounded when a school sheltering displaced people in the north was set ablaze by an Israeli tank shell.
“We have written our death notes, and we are not leaving Jabalia,” one resident told Reuters.
“The occupation (Israel) is punishing (us) for not leaving our houses in the early days of the war, and we are not going now either. They are blowing up houses, and roads, and are starving us but we die once and we don’t lose our pride,” the father of four said, refusing to give his name fearing Israeli reprisal.
Northern Gaza, which had been home to well over half the territory’s 2.3 million people, was bombed to rubble in the first phase of Israel’s assault on the territory a year ago.
Despite giving evacuation orders, Israeli snipers and drones are firing at civilians leaving the area, according to residents and aid groups.
The US has told Israel that it must take steps to improve the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza in the coming 30 days or face potential restrictions on military aid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza, three officials who had attended the discussion said, with supplies likely to increase soon.
However, Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Gaza government media office, said Israeli claims about allowing aid into the enclave were misleading.
“The Israeli army is lying and trying to mislead public opinion regarding the entry of flour trucks,” he told Reuters.
He said the Israeli military has maintained a comprehensive siege on the far north of Gaza for 170 consecutive days, closing all humanitarian access points with 42 people killed in the Israeli assault over the last 10 days.
Gaza’s health ministry on Wednesday said that the death toll from just over a year of war on the besieged coastal enclave had risen to 42,409 killed and 99,153 wounded.
