In northern Gaza, an already starving population has been cut off from food, with no confirmed deliveries since 1st of October. They live in fear of attack and fear that if they try to leave, they still won’t find safety or be allowed to return. Here we outline the devastating and horrific situation for children and their families in northern Gaza right now.
Reports from the north paint a picture of hell. This goes beyond the already unprecedented horrors faced by children and their families across Gaza.
400,000 people in northern Gaza are caught between fear of attack and starvation, and fear that if they try to leave, they still won’t find safety or be allowed to return.
FORCED DISPLACEMENT
Israeli forces are escalating attacks against civilians and ordering the entire civilian population in that area to evacuate, without ensuring the means to do so safely and while cutting off food aid and medical supplies to all who remain.
Civilians have a legal right to protection wherever they are across the Gaza Strip. Staying in the north doesn’t cancel this out. Issuing so-called “evacuation orders” doesn’t cancel out Israel’s legal obligation to protect civilians who remain.
SIEGE, RESTRICTIONS AND ATTACKS ON FOOD DELIVERIES
Moreover, civilians are under siege, with no food confirmed delivered since the 1st of October and targeting of Palestinians queueing for food aid – again. On the 14th of October, Israeli forces reportedly killed 10 Palestinians queuing for food at a distribution centre in Jabalia, and wounded 40 others, including women and children.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that the only functioning bakery in the north caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition. Save the Children has 5,000 food parcels destined for families in the north of Gaza that cannot enter given the ongoing siege and restrictions. Starvation must not be used as a weapon of war.
Forced displacement outside the permissible exceptions is a war crime and a crime against humanity. So is the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
STRIKES, VIOLENCE AND COMMUNICATION BLACKOUTS
Children and their families in the north of Gaza are being terrorised in some of the deadliest days and nights across the Strip since the start of the war. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports at least 640 Palestinians have been killed in 17 days of siege. This number is expected to rise, with bodies reportedly lining the streets and civil defence teams still pulling more out of the rubble.
Israeli forces have isolated children and families in north Gaza towns, cutting them off from the rest of the Strip and from the outside world with a communications blackout. The blackout is compounding the terror for children, hindering rescue efforts, and thwarting what remains of the humanitarian response. Voices from the ground have been silenced, with Palestinian journalists killed and injured, and foreign journalists unable to independently report there.
Gaza’s largest refugee camp has become a death camp. At least 33 people were killed and 85 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit several houses in Jabalia on the 18th of October alone. Residents have reported Israeli forces destroying dozens of houses daily, from the air and the ground. Those already forced from their homes have not been spared, with collective shelters attacked and people burning alive as their tents were set ablaze by airstrikes.
Bodies reportedly remain in the streets, with families unable to retrieve them. Unable to get to the cemetery, people are forced to bury their children in the streets.
A young boy walks through a crowd in the streets of North Gaza Bisan Owda/ Save the Children
DETENTIONS, TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT
Israeli forces have reportedly detained dozens of civilians, including children, raising fears that they may face torture and ill-treatment as reported by the UN Human Rights Office in July.
Arrests happened during Israel’s siege on Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals in March, where dead bodies were later discovered in mass graves. Israel must announce the identity of those it has arrested and ensure access to their lawyers and families.
A DECIMATED HEALTH SYSTEM
Children cannot be treated for injuries, disease, or malnutrition as the health system is being systematically destroyed. Healthcare providers are struggling to deal with high numbers of critical patients as people continue to be killed and injured by Israeli drones and quadcopters.
Health officials are calling for fuel, medical supplies, blood, and food to be sent immediately to three remaining northern Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by the number of patients and injuries.
Children in northern Gaza are running out of time. Death and destruction in Northern Gaza must end. Governments must stop sending arms. We need a definitive ceasefire now.
