Skip to main content

Gaza: 31 killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp

Gaza: At least 31 killed in Israeli attack on Jabalia refugee camp
MENA
25 min read
13 November, 2023
Fuel shortages in Gaza could put a stop to aid work in the besieged and war-hit enclave in the next 48 hours, the UN warned, as hospitals continue to struggle.

31 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Monday night, according to Wafa, while residential buildings were bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp and Deir el-Balah, both in central Gaza.

The bombings come as US President Joe Biden directly said that the Al-Shifa hospital must be protected, amid intensified Israeli assaults in and around Gaza's largest hospital.

Despite Biden's words, hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are no longer operational, the local health ministry said Monday, as Israel's bombardment persists.

Youssef Abu Rish, deputy health minister in the Gaza Strip, told AFP all hospitals in the north of the enclave, including Al-Shifa and Al-Quds, were "out of service".

This comes as several premature baby and scores patients have died at Al-Shifa hospital on Monday, as the facility suffered fuel shortages. Israeli snipers have been targeting and firing at anyone near the hospital, trapping as many as 3,000 patients and medical staff inside.

Evacuation efforts have also been hindered due to fierce Israeli fighting.Gaza-based journalist Maha Husseini reported that food is scarce inside the hospital, and intense Israeli violence outside the premises has prevented people from retrieving and burying any bodies that lay outside the facility.

Stray dogs have been reportedly have been eating the bodies outside the hospital, Husseini said.

The hospital has become a flashpoint in Israel's war that has now entered its 38th day.


Meanwhile, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that its operations in war-torn Gaza would shut down within two days due to fuel shortages in the enclave.

"The humanitarian operation in Gaza will grind to a halt in the next 48 hours as no fuel is allowed to enter Gaza," UNRWA's Gaza chief Thomas White wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

"No fuel has entered Gaza since October 7," he wrote, referring to the date when Israel began its military onslaught of Gaza, which has killed at least 11,240 Palestinians.

Aid agencies have repeatedly raised the alarm about the lack of fuel - used to power vital services such as hospitals which rely on generators, and for purifying and pumping drinking water.

Meanwhile, the UNRWA agency's fuel depot has "run dry", its chief Philippe Lazzarini said, while a request to the Israeli military to replenish it had "gone unanswered".