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Israel announced on Friday that it has begun the “initial stages” of its siege of Gaza City, declaring the capital city a “dangerous combat zone” and ending its daytime pauses for the supposed purpose of allowing the passage of humanitarian aid, despite a famine declaration across the area last week.
“We have begun the preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City, and already now IDF forces are holding the outskirts of Gaza City,” Israel’s military spokesperson told reporters.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that the siege would put 1 million Palestinians at risk of forced displacement once again, with many thousands being forced into already overcrowded areas to seek shelter.
“With famine already confirmed in the area, any further escalation would deepen suffering and push more people toward catastrophe,” the agency warned. Churches and aid groups have pledged to stay to aid Palestinians sheltering in the Strip’s largest city.
The end of the supposed humanitarian pauses in Gaza City comes just a week after the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) officially declared a famine in the region encompassing Gaza City and surrounding neighborhoods.
The group had called on Israel to end its near-total humanitarian blockade, warning that the famine will spread further south if it isn’t immediately stopped.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had approved the siege earlier this month, with reports that the plan would involve forcing Palestinians into “camps” further south in the Strip.
Many Palestinians have already fled the area as Israel has intensified its bombardment of the city in recent weeks.
The UN recorded 54 attacks on residential buildings and blocks in Gaza City over the course of just two weeks this month, killing at least 87 Palestinians, including 25 children. This death count is likely an undercount, UN officials said.
“We are already seeing a repetition of the use of methods and means of warfare that led to mass killings, serious injuries, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, starvation and extensive destruction in previous military operations in North Gaza and Rafah,” the UN human rights office for the occupied Palestinian territories said in a statement.
It added that the attacks “indicate that the systematic destruction of Gaza City is already underway.”
Satellite images have indeed indicated that Israel has destroyed a significantportion of Gaza City in recent weeks.
Videos emerged of Israel dropping massive bombs after its announcement on Friday.
Palestinians in Gaza City have nowhere to go.
“Do we flee to the south, where bombardment and killing never cease — where death only comes slower?
Or do we remain in Gaza City Governorate, just before the Netzarim checkpoint, which has also become home to everyone from Gaza’s north — more than 1 million people — only to be erased quickly, because the occupation has already decided to wipe it out completely?” wrote Dalia Abu Ramadan, whose family has taken shelter in Gaza City, last week.
“The choice seems to be between how quickly we may die.”
