Israel’s recent offensive in northern Gaza has killed more than 700 people in a little over three weeks, with nearly 300 of those deaths, mainly in the north, occurring in the past nine days alone. While it has attempted to justify its renewed focus on the north by claiming it is targeting regrouped Hamas fighters, the intensity of the fighting has caused heavy losses among the 100,000 civilians still living there. Many of them are families who, exhausted by Israel’s multiple forced displacement orders, have chosen to stay in the north.
The Israeli military has repeatedly struck shelters for displaced people across Gaza, saying it is carrying out precise strikes targeting Palestinian militants and has tried to avoid harming civilians. The strikes have often killed women and children. These are the reported deaths in the past nine days:
20 October
At least 87 people were killed overnight when an Israeli airstrike hit several multi-storey buildings in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Images suggested two or three big blocks of flats were demolished in the strike.
Graphic footage afterwards showed the bodies of several children among the dead, while footage from the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital showed body bags.
Israel has said the casualty figures were exaggerated, despite evidence of civilian deaths.
The UN special coordinator for the peace process in the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, said after the airstrike: “The nightmare in Gaza is intensifying … Horrifying scenes are unfolding in the northern strip amidconflict, relentless Israeli strikes and an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.”
