US worried about north Gaza humanitarian situation as UN says no new aid in 2 weeks
Harris, Pentagon chief call for fresh supplies for civilians, as IDF pushes on with new raid in Jabaliya area to stop Hamas from regrouping; Israel denies implementing siege plan
American officials on Sunday sounded the alarm over the growing humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza, amid reports from the UN’s World Food Program that no assistance had entered that part of the Strip in nearly two weeks.
In a post on social media, US Vice President Kamala Harris, the and Democratic presidential nominee, called on Israel to do more to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.
“Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected,” she tweeted from her VP account on X.
Her comments came as the Israel Defense Forces pushed on with a fresh ground offensive to prevent the Hamas terror group from reestablishing itself in north Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the military was pressing operations in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya.
Jabaliya has been the focus of the IDF offensive for around 10 days. The military completed the encirclement of the refugee camp and has sent tanks into nearby Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, with the declared aim of stamping out Hamas fighters who are trying to regroup there.
With the Israeli military calling on Palestinians to evacuate southward as it steps up pressure on Hamas — and the terror group telling them not to leave — Gazans say the past few days resemble earlier phases of the war.
“We have been hit from the air and the ground, nonstop for a week. They want us to leave,” said Marwa, 26, who left with her family to a school in Gaza City.
People were afraid they would never be able to return if they head south, she added.
Many Jabaliya residents posted on social media platforms: “We will not leave, we die, and we don’t leave.”
Others were afraid that Israel planned to empty Jabaliya and possibly the entire northern area of its residents under a proposal floated by former Israeli generals, which calls for north Gaza to be cleared of civilians and remaining combatants to be put under siege until they surrender.
Israel flatly denies such designs.
“We have not received a plan like that,” IDF spokesman Nadav Shoshani told reporters. “We are making sure we’re getting civilians out of harm’s way while we operate against those terror cells in Jabaliya,” he said.
The proposal’s main author, retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, said that his plan aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages by ending its control of territory and aid, rather than sending Israeli forces in to battle its fighters.
“What they’re doing in Jabaliya now is more of the same,” Eiland told Army Radio on Sunday. “My plan is not being implemented.”
UN humanitarian officials have said in recent days that aid entering Gaza is at its lowest level in months and warned that critical aid lifelines into northern Gaza, where Israel has renewed its offensive, have been cut off.
But COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees aid distribution in Gaza, last week denied that Israel has halted the entry or coordination of aid in northern Gaza and posted on social media over the weekend that there are currently five bakeries producing 1.3 million pita breads per day in northern Gaza.
Bakeries in Gaza: Status update
???? ????13 active bakeries are producing 3.1 million pita breads daily.
North Gaza: 5 bakeries are producing 1.3 million pita breads per day.
Central Gaza: 8 bakeries are producing 1.8 million pita breads a day.
We coordinated the refueling of… pic.twitter.com/GcyYAZ6HZh
— COGAT (@cogatonline) October 11, 2024
During a call earlier on Sunday with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “raised the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and stressed that steps must be taken to address it,” according to a Pentagon readout.
The defense secretary also reiterated his call for Israel to ensure the safety of troops from UNIFIL and the Lebanese army who have come under IDF fire in recent days, and stressed the need “to pivot from military operations in Lebanon to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible.”
“I reaffirmed the United States’ unwavering, enduring, and ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” he added.
Also Sunday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a WHO-Palestine Red Crescent operation had managed to resupply two hospitals in northern Gaza.
“WHO and partners finally managed to reach Kamal Adwan and Al-Sahaba hospitals yesterday after 9 attempts this past week,” he posted on social media platform X. “The missions were completed amid ongoing hostilities.”
.@WHO and partners finally managed to reach Kamal Adwan and Al-Sahaba hospitals yesterday after 9 attempts this past week:
– 13 critical patients from Kamal Adwan hospital were transferred to Al-Shifa hospital. The hospital is overwhelmed and still serving around 60 in-patients… pic.twitter.com/jSmdC93dtP
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 13, 2024
He said drivers had been subjected to “humiliating security screening” and even temporarily detained at a checkpoint, “which is unacceptable.”
The WHO regularly criticizes the obstacles the Israeli authorities put in the way of these supply and patient evacuation missions.
The resupply mission also delivered 20,000 liters (5,300 gallons) of fuel to keep Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda operational, and 23,000 liters of fuel were delivered to Al-Sahaba Hospital, along with 800 units of blood and essential medicines and supplies.
The fuel is mainly used to run the hospitals’ generators to ensure power supply.
Israel accuses Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and carried out the October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war, of intentionally operating under the cover of these buildings, which normally enjoy increased protection under the rules of war. The Israeli military says it is targeting all areas where Hamas operates while seeking to minimize civilian casualties.