Families in northern Gaza refuse to leave despite Israeli siege

Emergency crews cannot reach the dead due to Israeli blockade and bombardment

People carry a man extricated from the rubble of a collapsed building in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday. AFP

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Bodies have been strewn on the streets of Jabalia, uncovered and unclaimed, for days since Israel's siege in the north began 11 days ago, with medical teams unable to reach the dead and injured because of blockades and constant bombardment, as some families refuse to continue abiding by the Israeli military's eviction orders.

Israel has cut off the northern strip from the rest of Gaza with no food, water, medication, or aid entering since October 1. The Israeli military has also been striking Al Saftawi, west of Jabalia in Gaza's north, nearly daily, and dropping leaflets on residents, ordering them to leave.

"Our teams are trapped with citizens in northern Gaza," a Civil Defence statement read. "The Israeli army continues to target our teams with drones to hinder our access to the injured. No aid has entered northern Gaza since the start of the military operation. A large number of victims remain under the rubble and we are unable to reach them."

Military strikes killed at least 40 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Palestinian health officials said at least 11 were killed by Israeli fire near Al Falouja in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza's refugee camps, while 10 were killed in Bani Suhaila in Khan Younis in the south when an Israeli missile struck a house.

Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli air strike destroyed three houses in the Sabra suburb of Gaza city, while five others were killed when a house was struck in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

With the majority of the 2.2 million people in the strip internally displaced, some families in northern Gaza are now refusing to leave their homes, knowing they would probably never return. Suad Al Jabali, 32, ignored the Israeli orders to leave Jabalia.

"We firmly refused because we know that no place is suitable for us except our own home. The idea of displacement is not an option," she told The National. Israel has been allowing some women and children to escape without providing them with a guaranteed route to safety, while the men are being detained, witnesses told The National.

Ms Al Jabali knows that death could come for her and her children at any moment. "Since the invasion began, we have been feeling like the building could be bombed over our heads at any moment because of the constant explosions we hear day and night," she said.

But she is adamant she will stay in her home, where she belongs and because fleeing elsewhere is no guarantee of survival.

"When the [eviction order] leaflets were dropped, everyone started running, searching for safety ... I thought about fleeing with my children but we don't have options on where to take them. Everywhere is being targeted and nowhere is safe."

Keeping her children calm while panic is rife is difficult. "I keep telling them that all of this will be over soon," she added.

For now, she is trying to ration what little food she has left, to sustain her family until the siege is over, opting to have one meal a day to make supplies last longer.

Alaa Hamad, 25, said he will not succumb to Israel's demands. "The aim of the invasion is clear: to force us to flee to the south. But they won't succeed. Thousands of people are still in their homes in northern Gaza and they won't leave," he said, speaking to The National from Al Falouja.

The UN estimates two thirds of Gaza's buildings have been destroyed by Israel since October 7, 20237 last year, leaving most Palestinians no place to return to once they have left their homes.

"People here would rather die in their homes than be displaced to the south, where they would face humiliation, life in tents and continuous Israeli shelling," Mr Hamad said, referring to the overcrowded, so-called humanitarian zone of Al Mawasi where 30,000 Palestinians live in every square kilometre in worn-out, makeshift tents made of fabric, nylon and wood.

Many Gazans in the north have said they will stop speaking about their plight to the media, because they have lost hope that anyone will stop their suffering.

Mr Hamad is not one of them and he appealed to the international community: "We urgently need water, food and protection. Supplies are running out and people's lives are at risk. If this continues, we'll be on the verge of starvation in addition to the relentless military pressure."

In a video from Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the main health complexes in Gaza's north, which is also under siege, officials said medical staff were not eating because of a shortage of food for the emergency teams and patients trapped inside.

Despite the constant air strikes, the World Health Organisation on Tuesday said it had been able to start its polio vaccination campaign in central Gaza, administering it to tens of thousands of children.

Citing officials, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the government is no longer seeking to retrieve the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023 through talks and is instead pushing for the annexation of the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed and scores injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip overnight on Monday into Tuesday, official news agency Wafa reported.

At least 12 people were killed in Jabalia on Monday and Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 42,344. Nearly 100,000 have been injured since October 7 last year.