By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – More than 600 people have been killed since the start of Israel’s ongoing military offensive in the northern Gaza Strip over two weeks ago, the Civil Defense Service said on Monday.
“The bodies of dozens of dead people are still under the rubble and on the streets as civil defense teams can’t reach them,” spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Anadolu.
The Israeli army has continued a massive offensive, now in its 17th day, in northern Gaza amid a suffocating siege on the area.
The onslaught was the latest episode in Israel’s brutal onslaught that has killed more than 42,600 people, mostly women and children, and injured 99,800 others since last year following a Hamas attack.
Basal accused the Israeli army of starving the Palestinians in northern Gaza amid its deadly offensive and siege on the area.
"People who do not die from the bombing will die from hunger,” he said, citing that many families have not eaten for days due to non-stop Israeli bombardment.
"The Israeli occupation did not stop at forcing people to flee, but rather carried out bombing, killing, torturing and humiliating citizens, in order to cause the greatest number of fatalities among them,” he added.
The spokesman appealed to the international community and organizations to bear their legal and moral responsibilities to end the ongoing bloodshed in northern Gaza.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said Monday that Israel was banning the entry of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.
Last week, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said Israel’s ban on the entry of aid has left 200,000 people in northern Gaza without food or drinking water.
The Israeli war on Gaza has displaced almost the territory’s entire population 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.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar