Civil Defense official recounts to Al Mayadeen grim Gaza accounts

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen + social media
22 Oct 2024 19:33

International and local officials are calling for action regarding the ongoing Israeli siege of Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Listen

Forcibly displaced Palestinians from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip walk toward Gaza City's center, as the Israeli occupation cuts off all supplies and aid from the area, on October 22, 2024. (AFP)

Emergency services are unable to reach areas of distress and the locations of martyrs and injured individuals, the spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, said.

Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Basal revealed that Israeli artillery units are shelling displaced civilians in the area.

"The occupation is intent on a policy of killing and is carrying out acts of extermination, targeting residential gatherings to force the population to flee in northern Gaza," he told Al Mayadeen.

As for Israeli acts of ethnic cleansing, more than 600 martyrs were transferred for burial to the Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals from the besieged area, while hundreds of others remain missing.

"We receive many appeals from those trapped under the rubble in Jabalia," Basal explained, stressing that "real action is required from international organizations" to resolve the issue.

"Our teams are suffering from siege, starvation, extermination, and the destruction of all necessities," the official added.

Basal affirmed that what is happening in northern Gaza is genocide and ethnic cleansing, aimed at eradicating all means of life. He noted that 85 emergency workers were killed and 290 were injured as a result of direct Israeli attacks.

He also warned that fuel shortages could force emergency workers to halt their work in the area.

"Our teams are also suffering from hunger, as most of us have not tasted food for days; how can we continue to work?"

"Can you imagine the consequences if our services for the citizens in northern Gaza [were halted]?"

More than a quarter million aid trucks have been turned back from the Gaza Strip

In a similar vein, the Government's Media Office in Gaza announced that Israeli occupation forces prevented the entry of more than a quarter million aid trucks since the onset of the genocide against the Palestinian people.

The Media Office indicated that this constitutes a crime against humanity and entrenches the policy of starvation in the Gaza Strip, particularly in northern Gaza and specifically around the Jabalia camp.

The Media Office expressed its astonishment and shock at the silence of the international community, European countries, and the world regarding the brutal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against more than 2,400,000 people in Gaza. It noted that the continuation of this catastrophe amid global silence portends a deep humanitarian crisis that could claim thousands of Palestinian lives.

It condemned the Israeli occupation's crime of starving civilians, especially children, as well as the prohibition of aid and goods for 169 days in the southern governorates of the Gaza Strip and for more than 180 days in Gaza City and northern governorates of the Gaza Strip, as part of the ongoing war of extermination and ethnic cleansing against civilians.

It called on all governments to condemn these compounded and ongoing crimes against the defenseless Palestinian people, holding the Israeli occupation, the US administration, the UK, Germany, France, and the countries participating in the genocide fully responsible for the ongoing crime of starvation against civilians, children, and women.

Furthermore, it urged the international community to exert real and serious pressure on the criminal occupation to stop the starvation, killing, and extermination of civilians in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), has made an urgent appeal to halt the Israeli aggression on northern Gaza.

🆘🆘 from our @UNRWA staff in northern #Gaza.

Nearly three weeks of non-stop bombardments from the Israeli Forces as the death toll increases.

Our staff report they cannot find food, water or medical care.
The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) October 22, 2024

Lazzarini noted that UNRWA staff members are struggling to find basic necessities like food, water, and medicine in the region. He urged for an "immediate truce, even if just for a few hours" to ensure the safe passage of forcibly displaced families.

The humanitarian official pointed to "three weeks of non-stop bombardments from Israeli Forces" and an increasing death toll, in a plea that he posted on X.

"The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble," he wrote, adding "missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied."

On Monday, Lazzarini said that Israeli authorities are blocking off humanitarian missions to northern Gaza, denying them entry to critical supplies including medicine and food for besieged people.

Ethnic cleansing, the Generals' Plan

"Denying & weaponizing humanitarian assistance to achieve military purposes is a sign of how low the moral compass is," Lazzarini posted on X.

What the head of UNRWA described are the effects of the Israeli regime's "Generals' Plan", which it has been employing in Jablia for three weeks now.

This plan focuses on transforming the area into a closed military zone, where civilians are forced to go elsewhere or starve to death if they choose to stay. Israeli occupation forces implement this plan by massacring Palestinians, either by direct fire or bombardment, while cutting off all supplies and aid to the area.

This systemic aggression can only be described as the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in northern Gaza and a clear act of genocide.