Israeli forces have now surrounded the camp, which is the largest of a total of eight camps established in the Gaza Strip for Palestinians who fled when the state of Israel was established in 1948.
The area has been shelled both from the air and the ground for over a week. According to the AP news agency, the residents are stuck in their homes while fighting rages outside. It should also not be possible to evacuate the dead and wounded from the area.
– Family under attack
According to resident Ada al-Diqis, his relatives tried to move on Tuesday morning, but they were fired upon by the military.
– We do not know who was killed, and who is still alive, he tells AP.
Another resident, Ahmad Awda, says they hear constant gunfire and bomb attacks.
The Israeli army has also sent tanks into the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which are located in the same area.
Palestinian health authorities state on Tuesday that at least eleven people have been killed in Israeli attacks at Al-Falouja in Jabalia. The day before, it was reported that at least ten people were killed while standing in a food queue.
Fear of forced displacement
– We have been attacked from the air and the ground for a week non-stop. They want us to leave. They want to punish us for refusing to leave our homes, says Marwa, a 26-year-old woman who has traveled to a school in Gaza City, also in the north, with her family.
She also says that people are afraid that they will never be able to come back if they go south.
Israel’s clearly stated goal is to defeat Hamas in the area. The military has ordered residents to evacuate. The same applies to three hospitals in the area, but they say they are determined to continue their work and take care of the many wounded.
UN concern
Roughly half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million inhabitants initially live in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. But many fled in the first phase of the war about a year ago.
About 400,000 people have remained, according to UN estimates.
On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that Israel appears to have cut the connection between northern Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian area.
– The separation of northern Gaza raises even more concern that Israel has no intention of allowing civilians to return to their homes, and the repeated calls for all Palestinians to leave northern Gaza raises serious concerns about a large-scale forced displacement of the civilian population, writes the UN – the agency in a statement.
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