Israel kills 54 Palestinians in one day during renewed northern Gaza offensive

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Nov 6, 2024 4:53 AM

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At least 54 Palestinians were killed across Gaza on Tuesday by the Israeli military, the majority in the northern region of the Strip where aid has been cut off entirely for weeks by the Zionist regime.

Palestinians gather to receive aid distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, in Nusairat refugee camp, Gaza, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024

An air strike on a civilian residence in the town of Beit Lahiya north of Gaza City killed 25 people, mostly women and children who were sheltering there.

A report by PressTV said 39 people were killed in northern Gaza and that, “The death toll from an Israeli attack on the Masry family home in the town of Beit Lahiya in the north reached 25. The Wafa news agency citing medical sources said the victims included children.”

PressTV also reported, “Six people including a mother and her two children were also killed in strikes on the central city of Deir al-Balah.” Another home was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, which killed two children and their parents.

Strikes in other parts of Gaza on Tuesday killed another ten people, according to health ministry officials.

The renewed attack on civilians in northern Gaza began on October 6 and has included a ground assault focusing on the towns of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon. Israel has claimed it is fighting Hamas in these isolated areas of the region that have been repeatedly attacked during more than a year of the Gaza genocide.

A report by Associated Press said, “Dozens of Palestinians trickled out of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday—mostly women and children—dragging rucksacks and satchels with belongings. They entered Gaza City on a street where every building had been completely flattened or heavily damaged. ‘We came barefoot. We have no sandals, no clothes, nothing. We have no money. There is no food or drink,’ said Huda Abu Laila.

“‘We are hungry. Hunger has killed us. We were under siege for one month without water or food,’ the gaunt elderly women continued, before erupting in tears.”

The fleeing Palestinians reported that there were bodies lying in the streets because no one was able to retrieve them. At least three people were reported to be trapped alive under the rubble of the buildings destroyed in Beit Lahiya, but rescue teams were prevented from reaching them by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Gaza Health Ministry said there are no ambulances operating north of Gaza City.

Associated Press reported that the IDF has ordered the complete evacuation of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon. Jabaliya contains a refugee camp where the United Nations estimates 100,000 Palestinians continue to live after tens of thousands fled over the past month of the renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Israelis targeted medical facilities in the north, including devastating attacks on Monday and Tuesday on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only remaining hospital in the north. The Gaza Health Ministry said Israel “bombed and destroyed” the hospital and the attacks caused “numerous injuries to medical staff and patients.”

The New Arab reported on Tuesday, “Houssam Abou Safia, the hospital’s director, said that the situation at Kamal Adwan was ‘catastrophic,’ with Israeli forces bombing it without any warning, while WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that six children were injured by Israeli bombing.”

With its present offensive—air strikes and forced evacuations combined with cutting off of aid and destruction of medical facilities—the Israeli regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is putting into practice the “Generals’ Plan” to purge northern Gaza of all Palestinians by a mass military onslaught and starvation.

The plan for ethnic cleansing of Gaza has been attributed to a group of retired Israeli generals, including former head of national security Giora Eiland, in which the entire Palestinian population north of Netzarim Junction is to be removed to the south, and anyone who refuses to leave will be shot on sight. The purpose of the Nazi-style operation is to prepare the area for the construction of Zionist settlements.

In an interview with Associated Press, Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who is now a professor at Tel Aviv University, elaborated on Israel’s program. “It’s endless war,” Milshtein said, “We are in Jabaliya for the fourth time, and maybe in the next month we will find ourselves there for the fifth and the sixth.”

On Tuesday, Netanyahu fired his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, amid a growing political crisis within Israel. The removal of Gallant, who has been identified with calls for a cease fire in Gaza to secure the release of the hostages taken by Hamas last year, strengthens the drive by the Netanyahu government and fascist forces in Israel to implement a “final solution” to the Palestinian question in Gaza.

The New York Times reported, “Mr. Netanyahu named Israel Katz, the foreign minister with scant security experience, as the new defense minister. Mr. Katz, an ally of the prime minister, is unlikely to stand in the way of Mr. Netanyahu’s approach to cease-fire talks, which critics say have undermined the possibility of a deal.”

The firing of Gallant sparked protests across Israel, including a large demonstration near Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. Protesters also blocked traffic and lit bonfires in Tel Aviv.

Also on Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported at least seven people killed during an Israeli military raid on the occupied West Bank. Five were killed in Qabatiya, near Jenin, and two were killed in the Tammun area, in Tubas. Israeli bulldozers have also severely damaged infrastructure in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps and demolished seven homes in occupied East al-Quds.

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Israel kills 54 Palestinians in one day during renewed northern Gaza offensive

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