400,000 trapped in northern Gaza amid Israeli offensive: UN

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - An Israeli military operation in northern Gaza is leaving at least 400,000 Palestinians trapped in the area, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday.

The Israeli army launched a new offensive in northern Gaza on Sunday, claiming that the operation aims to prevent Hamas from regaining strength in the area.

According to witnesses, bodies covered the streets across Jabalia refugee camp with Israeli forces preventing medical teams from reaching the area.

“Northern Gaza: No end to hell,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. “At least 400,000 people are trapped in the area.”

He said recent Israeli evacuation orders “are forcing people to flee again and again, especially from Jabalia Camp.”

“Many are refusing because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe.”

The UNRWA chief warned that basic supplies in northern Gaza are almost unavailable.

“Hunger is spreading and deepening again,” he said.

“UNRWA shelters + services are being forced to shut. Some for the first time since the war began.”

Lazzarini also warned that the Israeli offensive threatens the launch of a second phase of a polio vaccination campaign for children in northern Gaza.

“Children are as ever, the first and most to suffer,” he said. “They deserve so much better, they deserve a cease-fire now, they deserve a future.”

The first phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children across the Gaza Strip ended on Sept. 15.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 42,000 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 97,300 others injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.