This Monday, the Israeli army renewed warnings to Palestinians in Gaza not to return to the north of the enclave, a day after Gaza hospital authorities said five people had been killed.
Five people died as crowds of displaced residents tried to reach their homes in the war-torn northern Gaza Strip, which was an early target of Israel’s war against Hamas, and much of the area was destroyed, forcing much of the population to flee south.
Although the north is said to be home to some 250,000 people, the Israeli military has prevented most of the displaced from returning during the six-month war, claiming the area is an “active combat zone.”
The military has reduced troop numbers in Gaza and says it has weakened Hamas’s grip on the north, but Israel continues to carry out airstrikes and targeted operations in the area against what it says are reorganizing militants, especially in Gaza’s main hospital. -Shifa, lying in ruins after two weeks of attacks and fighting in March.
Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraei warned in a post on social media site X that Palestinians should remain in southern Gaza, where they have been ordered to take refuge, as the north is a “dangerous war zone.” People seem to be heeding the new warning, especially after Sunday’s riots.
Hospital officials in the Gaza Strip said Sunday that five people were killed by Israeli forces as they tried to move north and their bodies were taken to Ouda Hospital in the city’s Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to the hospital. According to the department, another 54 people were injured.
The Israeli army made no comment and the exact circumstances of the death remain to be determined.
Anaam Mohammad, who was forced to flee his home from the northern city of Beit Hanoun and was trying to return, said soldiers were letting women and children through, but when a group of Palestinians did not give them room, two tanks arrived and opened fire. . The armed forces also threw smoke bombs to disperse the crowd.
Before Sunday’s riots, crowds of people filled the coastal road and moved north on foot and in donkey carts. Returnees said they were forced to make the dangerous journey because they were fed up with the harsh conditions they had to live in while displaced.
“We want to have our homes. We want to have our lives. We want to go back, whether there is a truce or not,” said Nidhal Khatab, one of those trying to return to the north.
The northern Gaza Strip and the return of its population are a key point of friction between Israel and Hamas in ongoing talks to secure a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages taken by the militant group. Israel wants to try to delay the return to prevent militants from regrouping in the north, while Hamas says it wants a free flow of returnees.
The war has had a devastating impact on Gaza’s civilian population, with most of the territory’s 2.3 million residents displaced by the fighting and living in harsh conditions, with little food and often in tents, with no end in sight to your suffering. Large areas of the urban landscape were damaged or destroyed, leaving many displaced Palestinians with nowhere to return.
Six months of fighting in Gaza have plunged the small Palestinian territory into a humanitarian crisis, leaving more than a million people on the brink of starvation.
The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, most of them civilians, in a surprise attack in southern Israel. About 250 people were taken hostage by the militants and taken to Gaza. The November deal freed about 100 hostages and left about 130 captives, although Israel says about a quarter of them are dead.
Israeli bombing and ground offensives in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 33,700 Palestinians and injured more than 76,200, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its calculations, but says women and children account for two-thirds of the dead.
Israel claims to have killed more than 12,000 militants during the war, but has provided no evidence to support that claim.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.