The UN has condemned the “high number of casualties” caused by Israeli strikes in northern Gaza in recent days.
The comments – made by the spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres – come as at least 10 people were reportedly killed by Israeli artillery fire at a food distribution center in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, where Israeli tanks and soldiers continued to attack. .
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said that shells hit inside and outside the center on Monday morning as some hungry people were trying to get food.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident, adding that it only operates “when you are dealing with terrorists”.
Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the army said it launched an offensive in the area and two neighboring northern towns nine days ago to eliminate Hamas fighters who had gathered there.
The UN said on Sunday that more than 50,000 people had fled the Jabalia area, but others were left homeless amid shelling and ground fighting. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said civilians must be “protected at all times”.
“The secretary general condemns the large number of casualties in Israel’s intense campaign in northern Gaza, including schools, and the expulsion of Palestinian civilians,” he told reporters at a press conference in New York.
The attack also forced the closure of water sources, bakeries, medical facilities and shelters, as well as the suspension of other humanitarian services, including treatment for malnutrition, it warned.
The UN said it had not been allowed to deliver essential items, including food, since October 1, with the two closest borders closed and no deliveries allowed in the south.
The Israeli military said a convoy of 30 aid trucks entered the crossing south of Gaza City on Sunday, as US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu what the White House called “the importance of restoring access to the north”.
The army has ordered residents of Jabalia and neighboring areas to move to an area designated by Israel as a “relief zone” in southern Gaza, saying it is “working with great strength against terrorist organizations and will continue to do so for a long time”.
But most of the estimated 400,000 Palestinians living in the north say they are reluctant to flee to the south, fearing that if they do they will not be allowed to return home.
They believe that the Israeli military is planning to implement a plan, proposed by retired Israeli generals, to completely eliminate the population of the north and besiege the remaining Hamas fighters there until they release the Israeli hostages held since 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks the Israel.
The Israeli military has denied using the system. “We are making sure that we get the civilians out of harm’s way while fighting these Jabalia terrorists,” spokesperson Lt Col Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
During the night, four people were killed when an Israeli plane hit a camp for displaced people near al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the center of Deir al-Balah city.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a “direct strike against terrorists who were operating inside the command and control center in the parking lot”, and that it had taken measures to minimize civilian casualties.
“Soon after the strike, a fire broke out in the hospital’s car park which may have been caused by the second explosion. This incident is being reviewed,” Lt Col Shoshani wrote to X. “The hospital and its operations were not affected by the strike.”
A video posted online appeared to show a second explosionbut it was not clear whether they were caused by weapons or fuel tanks.
The spokesperson of al-Aqsa hospital, Dr. Khalil al-Daqran, said that more than 50 tents were burned and said that there is a problem of treating about 50 injured people, including children, women and old women, as well as the injured of some of the latter. Israeli strikes.
A resident of this camp, Umm Mahmoud Wadi, said her family lost everything.
“Where will I take my daughters? Winter is coming. There is no bed, no clothes, nothing. I am devastated. The gas bottle exploded – and we [our world] it exploded.”
Sunday night, it is reported that more than 20 people have died due to a tank fire at a school run by the UN that is being used as a shelter for families displaced from the Nuseirat refugee camp.which is just north of Deir al-Balah.
An UNRWA spokesman told the BBC it was “another shocking night for the people of the Gaza Strip”.
Louise Waterridge said extensive damage to the al-Mufti school in Nuseirat meant it would not be used for the second round of the massive polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, which began midway on Monday.
Local doctors and UNRWA staff are leading the effort to administer the vaccine drops to 590,000 children under the age of ten over the next two weeks.
The campaign was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef after the discovery of the first case of polio in two decades in an unvaccinated child in central Gaza, where 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have taken refuge.
UN officials are pushing for humanitarian leave to be respected during the vaccination campaign.
“This is important because we cannot vaccinate children who are fleeing for their lives, who are forcibly expelled. We cannot vaccinate if there are bombs falling from the sky,” said Ms Waterridge.
He added: “These breaks are during the day, there are specific times for us to reach these thousands of children. Strikes and military operations continue and it is very dangerous and dangerous to use any kind of humanitarian response in these situations. “
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas following the group’s unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were captured.
More than 42,280 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the area.
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