Civil Defense spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Major Mahmoud Basal, said on Tuesday that “the crimes of the Israeli military operation that has been ongoing for two months in northern Gaza are the bloodiest since the beginning of the genocidal war,” stressing that the starvation policy pursued by the occupation has begun to lead to deaths due to hunger and the tight siege. Preventing the entry of basic foodstuffs.
On the fifth of last October, the Israeli occupation army began a large military operation in northern Gaza, and the operation has since resulted in the martyrdom of more than 3,000 Palestinians, the displacement of tens of thousands, and the destruction of entire residential neighborhoods.
Basal confirmed in press statements that the Israeli occupation follows indiscriminate bombing policies targeting homes crowded with hundreds of civilians without any prior warnings.
He explained that the Israeli aggression led to the extermination of entire families and the targeting of everyone who moved in the streets, describing what was happening as “systematic ethnic cleansing.”
He pointed out that the military attacks caused “widespread destruction of infrastructure, including homes, schools, and basic facilities, forcing more than 130,000 citizens to forcibly migrate.”
Basal explained, “There is a humanitarian catastrophe that is worsening over time, as the bodies of more than 70% of the martyrs are still under the rubble in the targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip, due to the Israeli occupation preventing civil defense crews from performing their humanitarian tasks for 42 days.”
He added, “We receive calls for help from citizens trapped under the rubble asking for help, but we are unable to reach them.”
He pointed out that 13 fire engines stopped working in the center and south of the Strip due to running out of fuel, which hampers rescue and relief operations.
Bassal called on the international community to take immediate action to restart the civil defense system in Gaza, enabling it to save lives and alleviate the suffering of citizens facing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
With American support, Israel has been waging a war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which left more than 149,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly.
