October 2024 Beit Lahia attacks

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Beit Lahia attacks
Part of the siege of North Gaza during the Israel–Hamas war
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Beit Lahia
Location within the Gaza Strip
Location Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Date19 October 2024
Attack type
 Airstrikes, artillery, massacre
Deaths92+ Palestinians (mostly women and children) [1]
Injured100+ Palestinians
PerpetratorFlag of the Israel Defense Forces.svg  Israel Defense Forces

On 19 October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces conducted attacks on Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, killing at least 92 Palestinians and injuring more than 100, with many more missing believed to be trapped under the rubble. [2] Israeli airstrikes and artillery shells struck several buildings in densely packed residential blocks filled with local residents and evacuees, primarily in the western regions of the city. [3]

Contents

Background

Beit Lahia is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, towards the western area of the North Gaza Governorate in the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. In December 2023, the Israel Defence Forces began an offensive in Beit Lahia. Israel launched airstrikes against what they alleged to be Hamas militants. [4] On 12 December, Israel raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital. [5] [6] On 16 December, Israeli bulldozers crushed people sheltering outside the hospital. [7] One reporter described "a terrifying massacre and unspeakable scenes" and stating, "Dozens of displaced, sick and wounded people were buried alive". [8]

In April 2024, Israel withdrew from all territories in the Gaza Strip except for the Netzarim Corridor. The second Israeli invasion of northern Gaza in May 2024 came after Hamas regrouping in some areas there. [9] By June 2024, Gaza's Civil Defence stated the destruction in Beit Lahia "defie[d] imagination". [10]

Earlier in the month, Israel had issued evacuation orders telling residents of northern Gaza to move south. [11] One survivor described those earlier evacuation orders by stating Israel had "directed people to go to Beit Lahia and bombed them there." [12]

Attacks

On 19 October 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces conducted several attacks on the Beit Lahia Project area, bombarding the central and eastern regions the most intensely. Due to the immense size and range of the attacks, civilians in Beit Lahia and Jabalia were forced to evacuate without warning, which was significantly hindered due to the exceptionally high population density of the area caused by mass displacement around the Gaza Strip. Eyewitnesses reported that the entire western area of Beit Lahia shook due to the intense bombardments. [13]

A whole residential block in the west of Beit Lahia was targeted and destroyed by numerous Israeli airstrikes, which was densely packed with both locals and evacuees at the time of its destruction. Several buildings collapsed, many of which were filled with civilians who had not had the chance to evacuate or had been taking cover. The numbers are going to be increasing in the coming hours as many people are trapped under the rubble. Gaza’s Government Media Office reported that several overcrowded residential blocks were targeted and struck, many of which were full of women and children. [13] Gaza's civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal reported that the entire targeted residential block had been “leveled to the ground”. [14]

Response

Palestinian civil defense forces and paramedics were unable to reach the sites of the massacre due to continuous Israeli artillery strikes and use of surveillance drones to prevent anyone from reaching the disaster zones. Many of the victims were unable to be rescued due to being trapped under large pieces of concrete and other rubble, preventing rescue teams from reaching them. [13] According to a reporter on the ground, half of the people who were killed in the attack were internally displaced persons who had recently been forcefully evacuated from Jabalia and other regions of northern Gaza due to the renewed Siege of Jabalia. [15] The majority of victims were reportedly children, the elderly, and women. [16]

Rescue efforts were further hindered by an internet and telecommunications blackout that began the previous day. Hospitals were unable to treat the mass transfer of casualties to their services due to significant shortages in medical supplies and faculty, exacerbated by Israeli blockades and sieges on hospitals in northern Gaza. [17]

Reactions

The Israel Defense Forces alleged that casualty numbers from Gaza’s Government Media Office were typically exaggerated, and that the number of deaths reported did not align with Israeli information about the strike, which they claimed was meant to be a precise strike against a Hamas target. [17] The IDF further justified their course of action by calling the targeted area part of an "active war zone". [14]

The Hamas government media office called the attack a "horrifying massacre" [18] that was part of a "war of genocide and ethnic cleansing". [17] Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas' political bureau, urged for the international community to not let the massacre go unnoticed, and urged Islamic and Arab groups to besiege American embassies and Israeli embassies in protest. [13]

Egypt condemned the attack, stating, "There is no moral or military justification for the significant loss of life among Palestinian civilians, particularly women and children". [19] Qatar News Agency, the state-run media agency of Qatar, stated the Israeli army had "intensified the crimes of ethnic cleansing, and perpetrated grisly massacres that claimed the lives of dozens of civilians". [20]

Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, stated, "Horrifying scenes are unfolding in northern Gaza. The nightmare in Gaza is intensifying. I condemn the continuing attacks on civilians. This war must end, the hostages held by Hamas must be freed, the displacement of Palestinians must cease." [21] In a statement, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation stated it viewed "this atrocity as a continuation of the many massacres, acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the Palestinian people in flagrant violation of international values, conventions, United Nations resolutions, and relevant orders issued by the International Court of Justice." [22]

Analysis

Middle East Institute political analyst Hassan Mneimneh stated that the massacre and other associated attacks in Northern Gaza were caused by the "de facto participation" of the United States through granting Israel its advanced and high-yield weaponry without any non-performative limitations for use against targets hosting civilians. He further stated that the United States was directly complicit with conscious efforts by Israel to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza, and eventually the Gaza Strip as a whole. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

In 2004, the Israeli Defense Forces launched Operation "Days of Penitence", otherwise known as Operation "Days of Repentance" in the northern Gaza Strip. The operation lasted between 29 September and 16 October 2004. About 130 Palestinians, and 1 Israeli were killed.

Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya is a city in the Gaza Strip, north of Jabalia, in the North Gaza Governorate of the State of Palestine. It sits next to Beit Hanoun and close to the border with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 89,838 in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Gaza Governorate</span> Governorate of Palestine

The North Gaza Governorate is one of the five Governorates of Palestine in the Gaza Strip which is administered by Palestine, aside from its border with Israel, airspace and maritime territory. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the Governorate had a population of 270,245 with 40,262 households in mid-year 2007 encompassing three municipalities, two rural districts and one refugee camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabalia refugee camp</span> Refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Jabalia Camp is a Palestinian refugee camp established in 1948 by the United Nations to house those displaced by the 1948 Palestinian expulsion. Located 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) north of Jabalia in the Gaza Strip, it is the largest refugee camp in Palestinian territory, with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Due to Israeli attacks during the Israel–Hamas war, the refugee camp was described as "destroyed".

During the Israel–Hamas war, the Kamal Adwan Hospital, a hospital in Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip, Palestine, has been besieged multiple times by the Israel Defense Forces. Hamas has been accused of using hospitals as shields and bases to conduct attacks against Israel.

The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.

Events in 2023 in the Palestinian territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Hamas war</span> Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

From 9 October 2023, as part of the Israel–Hamas war, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted airstrikes in Jabalia refugee camp, claiming it was a stronghold for Hamas and other militant groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip</span> Israeli military operation since 2023

The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Israel–Hamas war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, it began bombing the Gaza Strip; on 13 October, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on 27 October, a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel's campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, has four stated goals: to destroy Hamas, to free the hostages, to ensure Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel, and to return displaced residents of Northern Israel. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli operation began, including more than 7,800 children and 4,900 women, with another 10,000 people missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. There are allegations that Israel has committed war crimes and genocide during the invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Gaza City</span> Ongoing military engagement in Gaza City

The siege of Gaza City began on 2 November 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded Gaza City, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, which was a counterattack to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Gaza City is the most populated city in the Gaza Strip and the battle started on 30 October 2023, when Israel and Hamas clashed in Gaza City. According to Oxfam, there are about 500,000 Palestinians, along with 200 Israelis and other captives, were trapped in a "siege within a siege" in northern Gaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugee camp airstrikes in the Israel–Hamas war</span> Airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

In the Israel–Hamas war, as part of the bombing and invasion of Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted numerous airstrikes in densely populated Palestinian refugee camps in both the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Israeli forces damaged or destroyed at least 16 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war in various places in Gaza within Palestine, as determined by evidence gathered by CNN, the New York Times and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of North Gaza</span>

The siege of North Gaza is an ongoing engagement of the Israel–Hamas war in the North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Strip, between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian forces. It began on 5 October 2024 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reinvaded Jabalia and its refugee camp for the first time in months since earlier fighting.

On 17 October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed the UNRWA-run Abu Hussein primary school, which had been turned into a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The airstrike killed at least 28 Palestinians and wounded 160 others.

The Israeli generals' plan refers to a siege strategy proposed by former Israeli general Giora Eiland during the Israel–Hamas war. The plan would force the complete evacuation of Northern Gaza by labeling all remaining civilians as military targets and blocking supplies such as food and medication from entering the area.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/29/israel-pounds-north-gaza-lebanons-east-killing-over-100-people
  2. ↑ "80 Killed, More than 100 Injured in New Israeli Massacre in Beit Lahia". Iran Press. 20 October 2024. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  3. ↑ "At least 87 killed in strike on northern Gaza, local officials say, as Israel continues attacks on Beirut". BBC News. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  4. ↑ Sabbagh, Dan (3 December 2023). "Israel says its ground forces are operating across 'all of Gaza'". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077. OCLC   60623878. Archived from the original on 20 December 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Tétrault-Farber, Gabrielle. "WHO calls for Gaza hospital to be protected after reported raid". Reuters. Archived from the original on 27 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "Israeli forces raid Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital after days of strikes". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 31 December 2023. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Gaza hospital destroyed, WHO chief reiterates ceasefire call". UN News. United Nations. 18 December 2023. Archived from the original on 27 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "Israeli bulldozers crush sick, wounded Palestinians outside Gaza hospital". The Peninsula Qatar. 16 December 2023. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  9. ↑ "IDF withdraws all troops from southern Gaza". Israel Hayom. Archived from the original on 11 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "Level of destruction in Beit Lahiya 'defies imagination': Gaza's Civil Defense". YouTube. Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 6 July 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  11. ↑ Rémy, Jean-Philippe (9 October 2024). "Israel orders new evacuations in northern Gaza". Le Monde. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Salman, Abeer; Dahman, Ibrahim; Lister, Tim (20 October 2024). "At least 87 killed in Israeli strike on northern Gaza, health ministry says". CNN. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Pietromarchi, Virginia. "At least 73 killed in Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya: Gaza media office". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  14. 1 2 Loveluck, Louisa; Mahfouz, Heba Farouk; Balousha, Hazem; Harb, Hajar (19 October 2024). "Israeli strike kills at least 73 people in northern Gaza, medics say". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  15. ↑ "Dozens killed in Israeli attack on northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Mahmoud, Hani. "Israeli air strike on Beit Lahiya hit area where people live 'back-to-back'". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  17. 1 2 3 Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (19 October 2024). "Israeli strikes in northern Gaza cause scores of casualties, doctors say". Reuters. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  18. ↑ "'Horrifying massacre': Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya kills at least 73 Palestinians". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  19. ↑ "Egypt condemns Israeli massacre of Gazans in Beit Lahia". Egypt Today. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  20. ↑ "73 Palestinians Martyred Following Israeli Massacre in Beit Lahia in Northern Gaza Strip". Qatar News Agency. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  21. ↑ England, Andrew; Jalabi, Raya. "Israeli air strikes kill dozens in northern Gaza, health officials say" . Financial Times. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  22. ↑ "OIC Condemns Israeli Occupation's Heinous Massacre in Beit Lahia in Northern Gaza". Saudi Press Agency. Government of Saudi Arabia. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
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