Israel presses ahead with ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza while the world watches

Alameen Templeton

Genocidal Israel is pushing ahead murderously with what has become known as the “Generals’ Plan” in northern Gaza, currently concentrated on the Jabalia area, to empty the region of 400 000 people.

It is insane, it is inhuman and, of course, it is illegal under international humanitarian law, but Israel has given up long ago on sensitivities to being compared to the Nazis.

As the BBC reports: “At its heart is the idea that Israel can force the surrender of Hamas and its leader Yahya Sinwar by increasing the pressure on the entire population of the north. The first step is to order civilians to leave along evacuation corridors that will take them south of Wadi Gaza, an east-west stream that has become a dividing line in Gaza since the Israeli invasion last October.”

‘Civilians are the enemy’

So, it’s a “war aim” – to kill anything and everything until Hamas surrenders. The plan, according to the generals, is to turn northern Gaza into a “closed military zone”; elsewhere, that is known as “ethnic cleansing”, a war crime.

And women, children, hospitals, schools, ambulances, doctors, even water in water trucks are now the enemy that must be wiped out.

As far as Israel is concerned, they’re all legitimate targets. And they’re a lot easier to hit than Hamas, as it has been demonstrating with daily relish as it warns civilians to move to the “humanitarian area”.

The Lawnmowers have besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital since Tuesday when they issued evacuation orders, despite the hospital being filled to overflowing with many critically injured people. They’re firing live ammunition and smoke grenades directly at the hospital.

Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospitals have also been told to “evacuate”.

For many patients, that is a death sentence, and doctors are desperately calling on the international community to prevent the evacuations. Doctors at Kamal Adwan say the situation is “catastrophic”.

Standard procedure

The Lawnmowers are pushing ahead with what has by now become their standard modus operandi when assassinating a hospital, as was seen with Al-Shifa Hospital that used to be the biggest in Gaza.

First, snipers fire randomly through hospital windows and doors with live ammunition and smoke grenades while medical staff try continue working under increasingly difficult conditions. Then, they start spontaneous raids into the hospital, dragging patients from hospital beds, arresting medical staff and terrorising patients.

Then, they start preventing ambulances and new patients from entering the premises, all the while terrorising refugees and family members of patients who have taken shelter on the hospital grounds.

Then, they move the tanks in, force a mass evacuation and start shelling the building from point-blank range before finally calling in air strikes.

In the mean time, they’re terrorising any residents they can find, forcing them from their homes and driving them to the “humanitarian area”, which is the flea-blighted, disease-ridden, filthy Al-Mawasi sand dune.

Doctors desperate

It’s covered by thousands of makeshift tents, it’s already overcrowded and new people arriving cannot find space to rest. The Israelis have already targeted the “humanitarian area” with 18 airstrikes since it was thrown together during the Rafah atrocity earlier in the year in the south of Gaza.

Middle East Eye reports Kamal Adwan’s director, Dr Husam Abu Safiyeh, has refused to comply with the expulsion orders as he says transporting the patients could kill them.

Dr Eid Sabah, the director of the nursing department, says there are about 50 patients trapped in the hospital, including nine ICU patients, most of whom are children.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health published a video Friday in which the hospital’s staff urgently appealed for fuel, warning that they will run out in about 24 hours which may lead to the death of the children in the ICU.

Israeli forces are blocking fuel and aid access to the three hospitals.

“We are now talking about a sensitive department that provides advanced health services, and we have 24 hours left. It’s not just Kamal Adwan Hospital; Al-Awda and the Indonesian hospitals are also on the verge of running out of the remaining fuel,” the hospital staff said.

“We are facing a genuine health disaster if fuel is not delivered, as it would result in a catastrophe.”

Rotting babies in incubators

Sabah reported that some newborn babies had been evacuated by ambulance to Gaza City, but paramedics transporting them had been arrested, despite prior coordination efforts.

Now, they don’t want to abandon their tiny patients. Everyone remembers the babies in incubators that the Israelis promised to evacuation from Al-Shifa, only for their rotting corpses being found still in their incubators weeks later.

They have also been inundated with dozens of injured people since the Israelis started their assault on northern Gaza.

Patients require advanced surgical procedures, including neurosurgery, vascular surgery, and general surgery, doctors say.

The Ministry of Health is begging for fuel and food to be allowed in, warning that, “the coming hours will be decisive for the lives of many children in the intensive care unit,” and calling on the international community to intervene.

Meanwhile, the Lawnmowers are pushing deeper into the Jabalia area, amid heavy air and ground bombing as intensive as it was at the start of the genocide a year ago.

Famine siege

War planes and artillery have since been pulverising Jabalia, the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, since the operation began on October 6, trapping thousands of people in their homes.

Middle East Eye reports the densely populated area has been encircled and besieged for a week, with no food or water coming in.

The “Generals’ Plan”, publicised on Israeli television in September, calls for the ethic cleansing of northern Gaza, warning those that remain will face starvation.

Hamas has called on residents not to evacuate because the south and Al-Mawasi in particular, is as dangerous as the north.

Lawnmowers are also attacking nearby towns of Beit Hanous and Beit Lahiya in a bid to force mass evacuations there. Twenty two people were killed in the last 24 hours.

Residents of Jabalia told Middle East Eye that they weren’t given any prior warning before the attack, whereas on previous occasions, they were given 24 hours to leave.

“The soldiers suddenly entered from all areas and closed off all the exits from Jabalia,” Abed Ali, a camp resident, said.

The ferocity of the air and ground attacks have made it impossible for most residents to flee safely, with quadcopters constantly flying overhead.

Food and water supplies are dwindling fast. The UN warns famine is a risk, with severe shortages of food, fuel and medical supplies in northern Gaza.