Israel continues to besiege northern Gaza and Jabalia refugee camp for the 16th consecutive day, cutting off the entry of humanitarian aid for some 200,000 people amid continuous airstrikes and artillery shelling.
On Saturday, Israeli forces bombed a residential block in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, killing at least 80 Palestinians and wounding over 100, marking the largest massacre in northern Gaza in months. Also on Saturday, Israeli forces bombed the Tel al-Zaatar neighborhood in Jabalia, killing 33 Palestinians, including 21 women, and wounding over 85.
The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh, told Al Jazeera that the hospital is overwhelmed with limited and exhausted medical staff amidst a severe shortage of medical supplies, food, and fuel for power generators.
Dr. Abu Safiyeh also said that this is the first time the hospital has faced this level of dire conditions since the beginning of the war, indicating that it is working at maximum capacity with minimal resources, prioritizing only cases that can be saved. He also pointed out that the hospital ran out of blood and that doctors went to the streets to ask people to donate blood.
Local sources reported that Israeli forces arrested dozens of men and women in Jabalia, detaining an unspecified number of men before releasing the rest.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to face resistance from Palestinian groups in Jabalia. On Sunday, the Israeli army admitted to the killing of Colonel Ihsan Daqsa, the commander of the Israeli army’s 401st armored brigade in combat in Jabalia.
The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, released footage of its fighters ambushing Israeli soldiers inside a building, then targeting armored vehicles that came to the rescue. According to al-Qassam, the footage was from Jabalia.
On Monday, Israelis gathered near kibbutz Be’iri, three kilometers from the Gaza Strip, to call for “resettling” Gaza. The rally was attended by several Israeli Knesset members and ministers and settler leaders, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, according to Israeli media. Settlement in Gaza has been advocated as of last year by the Israeli settler movement with the support of Israeli politicians, including cabinet members.
The resettlement calls align with Israel’s “Generals’ plan,” which Israel has been accused of implementing in northern Gaza. Israel officially denies that its offensive in the north is an implementation of such a plan, although Netanyahu told Israeli lawmakers that he was considering it two weeks before the beginning of the siege on northern Gaza.
Qassam Muaddi is the Palestine Staff Writer for Mondoweiss.