Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in north Gaza on Tuesday [Getty]
Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians in an attack on north Gaza’s Jabalia early on Tuesday as displacement tents around the enclave have started to flood, amid worsening weather conditions.
The attacks on Jabalia come just one day after bombings killed 27 Palestinians around Gaza and more hospitals were shelled and damaged.
The Israeli army also bombed Gaza City’s sewage pumping station, raising the alarm over a health and environmental catastrophe in the area, which has already been riddled with challenges despite no proper healthcare.
The Euro-Med human rights monitor also appealed to the UN this week to act following the announcement from Palestinian authorities that five more detainees from Gaza had been killed in Israeli prisons.
Hamas also commented on the killing of the prisoners, calling it “clear evidence of the extent of the occupation’s brutality and its detachment from all human values”.
The group further accused Israel of “crimes of enforced disappearance, the policy of medical negligence, the acts of torture, abuse and deprivation” towards Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli army said on Tuesday that a soldier, identified as Sergeant Uriel Peretz, was killed on Monday by anti-tank missile fire in north Gaza.
The army said three other soldiers were wounded in the same incident, with Arabic media reports stating this indicates that the resistance is still alive more than 14 months after the war on the enclave started.
Displacement tents flooding
This comes as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has drastically deteriorated in recent days amid harsh weather and winter storms, worsened by Israel obstructing aid from coming in.
Hamas on Tuesday appealed to the UN, Muslim and Arab countries to provide aid, highlighting that most of the Strip’s population is displaced.
The group urged for “relief supplies and tents to protect hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians from the cold and the disastrous effects” of Israeli attacks.
The call comes after several aid groups and charities announced that very little aid is entering Gaza while food insecurity is also skyrocketing.
At least seven Palestinians have died due to hypothermia in recent weeks.
According to the Wafa news agency, more rain and storms are expected in the coming days.
Palestine’s civil defence crews said they received hundreds of distress calls in recent days, as peoples’ tents flooded with rainwater.
“Our crews can only evacuate citizens from their damaged shelters to other places that are mostly unsuitable to shelter, and they remain in the open – under the rain and bitter cold,” the civil defence said in a statement.
Houthi attacks
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they carried out two military operations targeting Ben Gurion airport and a power station south of occupied east Jerusalem in solidarity with Palestinians.
Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said an 18-year-old girl was hit by a car as she was running to reach a bomb shelter in the town of Yavne during the strike. She sustained minor injuries.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, responded by warning the group that if they do not stop such attacks, they would face the same “miserable fate” as Hamas and Hezbollah.
He added that Israel could strike Iran or any country in the region and that Israel would not tolerate any further attacks from Iran’s proxies.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,541 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 and wounded over 108,338 others in the same time frame.
