Israeli Offensive Forces Thousands of Gazans to Flee Beit Lahia
Palestinians flee Beit Lahia, the last city in north Gaza, Dec. 4, 2024. X/ @MosabAbuToha
December 4, 2024 Hour: 10:47 am
Up to 75,000 Palestinians remain trapped in the besieged area, which includes Beit Lahia, Jabalia and Beit Hanoun.
On Wednesday, thousands of Palestinians fled Beit Lahia in a new forced evacuation from an area in northern Gaza that has been under intense siege by the Israeli military for 60 days, during which more than 3,700 people have been killed or have gone missing.
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The evacuees used Salah al-Din Street, one of the two main corridors running north to south through the enclave, to escape the area.
“Dozens of injured among the displaced on Salah al-Din Street,” reported journalist Anas al-Sharif, who claimed that Israeli quadcopter drones opened fire on them.
Images shared on social media show thousands of Palestinians carrying backpacks, bicycles, and other belongings, moving along a dirt road where buildings on both sides are completely destroyed.
This is the situation after 14 months of an offensive by Israeli occupation forces, during which 2,700 people have been killed in Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia.
Health authorities estimate that at least 1,000 people are missing, with their bodies unable to be recovered by Civil Defense services due to the relentless Israeli offensive.
Since the evening, the Zionist Army has issued new evacuation orders in Beit Lahia through loudspeakers mounted on quadcopter drones. “A drone came and kicked us out of the school,” explained a young girl in a video, referring to the evacuation orders broadcast from drones to schools and other centers sheltering refugees in the north.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) estimates that between 65,000 and 75,000 people remain in the besieged area, which includes the towns of Beit Lahia, Jabalia, and Beit Hanoun.
On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontières, MSF) reported that two of its colleagues are trapped in the area and cannot be evacuated.
“The fighting is intensifying, and the situation is apocalyptic,” the NGO warned, adding that “the worst is yet to come” due to Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid into the area.
MSF members who managed to reach Gaza City, also in the north but outside the military encirclement, described the capital as a “ghost city” that has been completely devastated.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
