A Palestinian man holds the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024 [AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana]
One year after the start of the Gaza genocide, Israel, with the support of US imperialism, is only intensifying its extermination and ethnic cleansing of the civilian population of Gaza.
Between October 5 and 7, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from areas in northern Gaza as Israel continued its offensive near the Jabalia refugee camp.
Despite reports on social media that “Jabalia is being wiped out,” no death toll has been published, amid a near-total collapse of Gaza’s medical infrastructure.
“Attacks in northern Gaza, combined with mass evacuation orders, which are inconsistent with international humanitarian law, raise serious concerns about the forced displacement and forced transfer of Palestinian residents of Gaza,” the UN Human Rights office warned Monday.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces demanded the evacuation of the Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza within 24 hours.
“It is evident that there is a new plan to displace our people in northern Gaza by dismantling the healthcare system across all its sectors in this region,” said Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in a statement. “We have informed everyone that the northern region is densely populated with a significant number of residents. We have the right to continue providing services to these people. We will remain steadfast, we will stay, and we will continue to offer medical services no matter the cost.”
He added in an interview with CNN, “What is happening is arbitrary and clear displacement of the residents from northern Gaza.” He continued, “Kamal Adwan Hospital is still the only hospital operating in the north, so putting the hospital out of service would be a big disaster for the people who need (it). There are still many patients in the hospital and there are many babies and children in the neonatal unit, so it is difficult to evacuate.”
The United Nations reported in its daily update that in northern Gaza, “more than 400,000 people are under pressure to move southward to Al Mawasi, which is already overcrowded and lacks basic services. Humanitarian access also risks becoming further constrained, particularly between southern and northern Gaza, and so are the accessibility and functionality of key humanitarian facilities within areas slated for evacuation.”
These ethnic cleansing operations are accompanied by constant bombing, artillery bombardment and shootings by Israeli troops.
The deliberate starvation of the population of Gaza is only intensifying. A report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) found that the amount of food supplies entering Gaza in September was the lowest since March of 2023 and a major decline in the availability of food for children aged 6-23 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women across Gaza.
According to the report, “only five percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women had consumed dairy products, and six percent of children had eaten some meat, with these percentages plummeting to one and three percent in northern Gaza, respectively.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Chris Gunness, a former spokesman for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, accused Israel of carrying out a “slaughter” of the people of Gaza.
“In the last year, we have seen Gaza transform from the world’s largest open-air prison to the world’s largest concentration camp,” Gunness told Al Jazeera.
“Today, Gaza has been transformed into an industrial-scale slaughterhouse. And I use the word ‘slaughter’ advisedly because frankly animals in most abattoirs around the world are killed more humanely than the women and children of Gaza.”
In remarks on the first anniversary of the start of the Gaza genocide, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “The nightmare in Gaza is now entering an atrocious, abominable second year.”
He added, “More than 41,000 [Palestinians] have been reportedly killed, mostly women and children. Thousands more are missing and believed to be trapped under the rubble. Virtually the entire population has been displaced—and no part of Gaza has been spared.”
He continued, “We are witnessing a clear intensification of military operations by Israel. Residential areas have been attacked. Hospitals ordered to evacuate. And electricity cut off—with no fuel or commercial goods allowed in. Around 400,000 people are being pressed yet again to move south to an area that is overcrowded, polluted, and lacking the basics for survival.”
He concluded, “No place is safe in Gaza, and no one is safe.”
Israel’s assault on Gaza is being accompanied by an Israeli military offensive throughout the Middle East, with a direct attack on Iran under discussion with the Biden administration in the US amid active operations in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
In a speech Tuesday addressing the people of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened the country with destruction “like Gaza.”
“You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” Netanyahu threatened, demanding that all resistance to Israel surrender.
Israeli strikes killed 36 people across Lebanon on Tuesday and wounded 150. Since mid-September, 1,473 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli strikes.
On Tuesday, Israel also carried out a strike in Damascus, Syria, killing seven civilians and wounding 11 more, according to Syrian state television.