NGOs warn of ‘horrifying level’ of Israeli assaults on north Gaza

Prominent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have sounded the alarm about the catastrophic circumstances in northern Gaza, where Israel keeps its savagery going for the 12th consecutive day.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, the charity group Oxfam and 37 other humanitarian organizations said the Israeli attacks had escalated to a “horrifying level of atrocity.”

 “Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map.”

“Under the guise of ‘evacuation,’ Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City,” the NGOs said.

“This is not an evacuation – this is forced displacement under gunfire.”

The forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and does not amount to a permissible evacuation, the humanitarian organizations said.

“Relocation areas have not provided safety, adequate shelter or essential services, and there has also been no guarantee that displaced populations will be able to return once hostilities end.”

The statement said, “Since October 1, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents.”

UNRWA says reaching 'breaking point' in Gaza amid risk of famine

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says the agency is facing a combination of financial and political threats to its existence.

“They are running out of fuel and essential supplies, while doctors and nurses battle to save lives with what little they have left. The wounded flood in, children, older people, victims of Israeli airstrikes, but with no resources to treat them,” the NGOs said.

Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, said the Israeli military had “contacted us more than once to evacuate the hospital.”

Salha said all the departments are full of wounded people and “we are discharging even the wounded who have minor or moderate injuries, because we do not have [enough] beds for them.”

“I [told the Israeli military] clearly that we would not evacuate the hospital unless there are ambulances that can preserve the lives of the wounded people we have and reach another hospital that provides better service to the wounded.”

The NGOs’ statement also called for global leaders to shoulder their legal and moral duty to act now. The world cannot continue to stand by as Israel commits these atrocities, the statement said.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention. But it has been mere words.

In recent days. Israel has repeatedly struck refugee camps, crowded shelters and tent camps hosing the displaced across the besieged Palestinian territory. 

This is the third time air raids and ground incursions have occurred in the northern Gaza since the start of the Israeli campaign of death and destruction across the besieged Palestinian territory in October 2023. 

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