Israeli strikes kill 42 in Gaza as tanks tighten siege on north By Reuters

Written by Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli strikes in Gaza killed 42 people on Wednesday as the Israeli army tightened its siege of northern Palestinian territories, surrounding hospitals and refugee shelters, and ordered residents to head south, medics and civilians said.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza and the World Health Organization say they will not be able to start a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza as planned due to the bombings, mass displacement and lack of access.

Israeli forces began operations in the north about three weeks ago with the aim of preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping. The campaign has intensified since the killing of Hamas chief Yahya Al-Sinwar last week.

Israel's allies, including the United States, say they hope Sinwar's death could provide a new impetus for peace by allowing Israel to declare that it has achieved some of its major goals in Gaza.

But so far, the Israeli army appears to have stepped up its offensive, particularly in the northern areas, where Israel says Hamas militants are regrouping the ruins of areas that were among the first areas targeted by Israel last year.

The Israeli army announced last Friday that it has sent another army unit to Jabalia on the northern outskirts of Gaza. Residents say the military has besieged shelters, forcing migrants to leave while rounding up more men. The Ministry of Health said that at least 650 people have been killed since the start of this new incident.

At least 42 people were reported killed in Israeli military strikes across the region on Wednesday, 37 in northern Gaza.

Later on Wednesday, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service said three of its rescuers were injured in northern Gaza in a strike aimed at forcing them out of Jabalia, hours after the Israeli army ordered some of its workers to leave. he left the camp.

The United Nations Organization in Palestine, UNRWA, said on Wednesday that one of its staff was killed when a UNRWA vehicle was hit in Deir Al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip. Doctors say the man's brother was also killed. The municipality of Gaza City said that two city workers were killed and three were injured in the strike there.

Health and emergency officials said dozens of bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in and around Jabalia were scattered on the streets and under rubble where medical teams could not reach them.

Hospitals in the north have stopped providing medical services or are out of business because of the attack. Hospitals where doctors have refused orders to leave Israel say they are running out of blood for transfusions, as well as coffins and clothing for the dead.

“We are asking the world, which has failed to provide our people with shelter and shelter and which has not been able to bring food and medicine, to make an effort to send clothes for the dead,” said the Gaza Health Department in a statement.

A polio vaccination campaign, launched after a child was paralyzed by the disease in Gaza for the first time in 25 years, had to be suspended.

“We could not launch a campaign to vaccinate 120,000 children in Gaza City and northern Gaza today because of the Israeli siege and violence,” said Majdi Dhair, head of the health ministry.

The Israeli military unit, COGAT, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, said the vaccination campaign in northern Gaza will begin in the coming days, “after a joint inspection and request” by the World Health Organization and UN International Children's. UNICEF emergency fund.

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and Saudi Arabia to push for an end to the fighting, the first major US peace initiative since the killing of Hamas leader Sinwar and the last before the November 5 presidential election that could reverse US policy in the United States . region.

Washington has asked Israel to allow more aid supplies to northern Gaza. Israel says aid has been brought in by dozens of trucks as well as airdrops, but health workers in Gaza say aid has not yet reached them.

COGAT said on Tuesday that 237 trucks containing aid from Jordan and the international community had been transferred to northern Gaza in the past eight days.

Israel “will continue to work in accordance with international law to facilitate and alleviate the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

Palestinian health officials and residents said no aid was allowed into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahiya, three towns on the northern outskirts of Gaza.

The Israeli army said its forces dealing with Hamas terrorists attacked from there, and killed dozens of soldiers and destroyed military infrastructure while helping civilians who obeyed orders to leave.

The death toll in Gaza is approaching 43,000, according to the latest figures from the health ministry, and nearly all of the 2.3 million Gazans have been displaced, multiple times.

The attack on Israel began with a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage and returned to Gaza.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi Editing by Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff, William Maclean)