Gazans forced to abandon their dead under heavy Israeli fire in north

Residents, doctors and UN officials describe horrific conditions for residents after 18 days of siege and relentless attacks

Displaced Palestinians flee after being ordered by the Israeli military to leave their neighbourhoods in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

Beit Lahia and other parts of northern Gaza have been besieged by Israeli forces for several weeks, with little food, water or medical aid entering the area. Reuters

Leaflets dropped by Israeli military drones warned residents in northern Gaza that they were in a 'dangerous combat zone'. Reuters

Displaced Palestinians ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate their neighborhoods make their way as they flee amid an Israeli military operation, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip October 22, 2024. REUTERS / Stringer

Palestinians carry their belongs down a street in Beit Lahia, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. AFP

Families said they were fired on and Israeli forces set fire to buildings near the hospital in Beit Lahia where people had been sheltering. AFP

Palestinians walk down a street in Beit Lahia. Hundreds of thousands of people in northern Gaza remain under siege. AFP

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The town of Beit Lahia in besieged northern Gaza came under heavy attack by Israel's military on Tuesday, residents said, with at least 15 civilians killed by a drone strike and artillery fire, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

"The situation has been extremely dire since dawn, and the Israeli army has not stopped its attacks, not even for a minute. These assaults have resulted in dozens of martyrs lying in the streets, forcing the residents to bury them without shrouds in public roads,” Mohammed Al Maqadma, 26, told The National.

Beit Lahia, the nearby Jabalia refugee camp and other northern areas have been under siege for 18 days as the Israeli military carries out attacks that it says are aimed at Hamas fighters who have gathered there. Residents face acute shortages of essentials and are being ordered to leave their homes under threat of violence.

Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, described the dire conditions there. “We are under fire from all directions. People are terrified. The situation is catastrophic. They are killing people in the streets. We will not abandon Kamal Adwan Hospital, and we will not leave the injured behind."

Smoke rises over Beit Lahia after Israeli strikes on northern Gaza on Tuesday. AFP

Military drones dropped leaflets ordering Beit Lahia residents to leave, which read: "To all those in shelters and hospitals, you are in a dangerous combat zone. For your safety, move immediately towards the Indonesian Hospital via Al Awda Street and Beit Lahia Main Street. Any movement in another direction will put your life at risk."

But even those who obeyed the order reported coming under attack. Yasser Hamad, a father of 11, said his son Ahmed, who was about 20 years old, was killed by an Israeli drone as the family made the gruelling 10km trek to Gaza city.

"Ahmed was martyred instantly when a drone shot him in the head. We couldn’t retrieve his body because the army ordered us not to look right or left and to leave without carrying anything," Mr Hamad told The National.

"We left with heavy hearts, filled with anguish and immense sorrow because we had to leave a part of us behind, lying on the ground, unable to bury or shroud him,” he said.

“I wept bitterly over the helplessness we had reached. I remembered my son in every stage of his life and how I parted with him without a final embrace, without even being able to shroud or bury him.”

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN refugee for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said people in northern Gaza "are just waiting to die".

"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 or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied," Mr Lazzarini said in a post on X.

He pleaded for "an immediate truce, even if for few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area and reach safer places".

Palestinians leave Jabalia amid ongoing Israeli military operations in northern Gaza on October 22, 2024. Reuters

Asmahan Shatat, 42, said three of her nine children were injured after the family followed the military's orders and left the school at Jabalia camp, where they had been sheltering.

"We reached western Gaza with three of my children wounded after the army targeted us with shells, despite following the so-called safe route," she told The National.

“As soon as we moved, they fired a shell at us, killing and injuring several displaced people. The drone warned us not to move or look around.”

Fortunately, her children's wounds were not that serious. “By God’s grace, they could walk, and we eventually found a cart that took us to western Gaza."

Ms Shatat said her family has been forced to move seven times since the war began. "We don’t know when this brutal aggression against us will end. The Israeli army targets displaced people after specifying so-called safe routes for them. It’s a clear, systematic tactic aimed at killing Palestinians by any means," she said.

In southern Gaza, four Palestinians died and two were injured on Tuesday when Israel bombed a home and a gathering of people in the Khirbet Al Adas area, north of Rafah, Wafa reported.

The number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen to 42,718 after 115 more died during the 48-hour reporting period, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Another 487 people were wounded, taking the total to 100,282.

The war began after Hamas militants from Gaza killed about 1,200 people in raids on southern Israel on October 7 last year. About 250 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages, of whom about 100 remain in captivity, including about 30 who are believed to have died.