In a heinous Israeli massacre, dozens of Palestinians were killed or injured by a devastating airstrike on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
The airstrike in Jabalia caused a massive explosion that destroyed several residential buildings in the center of the refugee camp. While the camp housed 116,000 people within a mere 1.4 kilometers (0.5 miles) before the war, it now lies in ruins. Homes are buried beneath the rubble, and body parts, martyrs and wounded are piled up in huge numbers. Hundreds of people were seen searching the wreckage for the dead and injured.
The airstrike came as a part of Israel's continued bombardment of Gaza following a surprising Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel, in which 1,400 people were killed and another 240 taken hostage. Since then, Israeli massacres have left at least 8,900 people dead and more than 12,000 injured, mostly women, children and the elderly.
Israel has also put Gaza under a total siege, cutting off access to water, electricity, food, medicine and fuel for the Gaza Strip’s more than 2.3 million residents.
For their part, United Nations officials have said that more than half of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the fighting.
Anxieties among Palestinians are also high as Israel has stepped up ground operations inside Gaza over the last few days, with tanks and infantry probing the areas around Gaza City in the northern section of the strip.
Furthermore, Israel said it had entered a “second stage” of its war against the resistance group Hamas, which rules Gaza, following weeks of aerial strikes on the besieged territory.
Israel is prepared for a “long and difficult” war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said, as it seeks to root out and “destroy” Hamas.
For its part, Amnesty International said it has documented “unlawful Israeli attacks” that “must be investigated as war crimes,” as Israel argues it is targeting Hamas. However, in the weeks since the war on Gaza began, less than one normal day’s worth of aid has been allowed to reach its residents.
Israel’s expanded operations sparked new warnings from leaders about the risk of broader regional conflict, as well as heightened calls from the United Nations for a humanitarian cease-fire to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza.
Shortages of water, food and fuel continue to drive desperation in the territory, which continues to suffer from intermittent communication blackouts by Israel.
The chief of UNICEF, the U.N.'s children's agency, Catherine Russell, said the situation was on the verge of “becoming a catastrophe” due to the lack of clean water, warning that more civilians will likely die from dehydration and waterborne illnesses unless a clean water supply is restored.
“Only one desalination plant is operating at just 5% capacity, while all six of Gaza’s water-waste treatment plants are now non-operational due to the lack of fuel or power,” Russell told the Security Council.
At a recent news conference, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said the situation in Gaza was “growing more desperate by the hour,” and reiterated his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the “delivery of sustained humanitarian relief.”
Numerous hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling, according to aid groups and health workers. The relentless bombardments have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.
The medical organization accused Israel of “deliberately” launching airstrikes “directly next to” the facility to force an evacuation of the hospital, the second-largest in Gaza City.
The facility is treating hundreds of patients, while some 12,000 internally displaced civilians are also sheltering there, the agency said.
The organization said it keeps receiving new warnings from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has said would be “impossible” to do without endangering patients’ lives.
The hospital is located north of Wadi Gaza, the line Israel has urged people in Gaza to flee south of as it continues to strike what it says are Hamas targets in the north.
Aid groups have criticized the evacuation order, pointing to the challenges for civilians to move within Gaza while it is under attack.
Gaza’s leading cancer hospital was also damaged in an Israeli attack, with its third floor suffering a direct hit, causing damage to oxygen and water supplies. This attack on the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, located south of Gaza City, drew condemnation from the Turkish Foreign Ministry: “There is no explanation for such an attack. All necessary information, including the coordinates of the institution in question ... was shared with the Israeli authorities in advance.”
On Oct. 27, the White House said it would not be drawing any “red lines” for Israel, even as its military intensified ground operations on Gaza and ordered more civilians in the north to leave their homes and flee to the south.
“We're not drawing red lines for Israel,” U.S. Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on a call. “We continue to support their security needs. That will continue.”
He said the administration of President Joe Biden supported humanitarian pauses to allow the entry of critical aid, but that it would also continue to support Israel's military needs.
The comments came after communication services in the Gaza Strip were cut amid expanded Israeli strikes on the territory.
As concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza mount, Kirby told reporters later that the administration believes "Israel is making an effort to minimize humanitarian casualties in Gaza."
"It doesn’t mean that there haven’t been civilian casualties – tragically, there have been many, thousands of them, but unlike (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Ukraine, and unlike what Hamas did on Oct. 7, killing civilians is not a war aim of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF),” he added.
Biden has been facing increasingly vocal opposition from members inside his own party on what they suggest is his bias toward Israel and against Palestinians.
At a joint news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in October, he offered full support for Israel in its "war with Hamas." He also pledged that the U.S. "will continue to have Israel's back" and "will stand with Israel today, tomorrow and always."
Biden also came under fire when earlier he expressed skepticism about the death toll numbers coming out of Gaza, saying he had "no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using." Some progressive Democrats say Biden is giving lip service when he says lives on all sides matter. Moreover, more than a dozen lawmakers introduced a resolution that urged the Biden administration to "call for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine, to send humanitarian aid and assistance to Gaza and to save as many lives as possible."
Nevertheless, despite these appeals, Washington, as Israel's biggest ally, has not yet advocated for a cease-fire and is increasing its military presence in the region, permitting the Israeli attacks to persist.
One thing is already clear: The Biden administration has assumed full responsibility for every atrocity that is inflicted on Gaza’s population. The Israeli disinformation campaign worldwide and the support it received from Biden achieved its goal by stopping the build-up of political pressure for a cease-fire, directly leading to a tragic toll of deaths and injuries among Palestinians.
*Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist; recipient of two prizes from the Palestinian Union of Writers
