GAZA – At least 5,000 Palestinians have been killed and missing in Israel’s ongoing offensive in northern Gaza since Oct. 5, local authorities said on Sunday.
“Some 9,500 others have also been injured, in addition to the detention of 2,600 people, including women and children, in a flagrant violation of all international conventions and norms,” Gaza’s government media office said in a statement.
“In the past 100 days, our people in northern Gaza have suffered the most horrific forms of killing, ethnic cleansing, destruction, and displacement,” it added.
The media office said attacks on homes, hospitals, public facilities, and infrastructure in northern Gaza “clearly exposes the Israeli occupation’s intention to deliberately and systematically eliminate the foundations of life in the Gaza Strip and cause a deep humanitarian crisis that exacerbates the suffering of our Palestinian people.”
“The occupation will not succeed in displacing our people or stealing their rights,” it added.
Israel has continued a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza since Oct. 5, 2024 to allegedly prevent the Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.
Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid including food, medicine, and fuel has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of imminent famine.
The Israeli onslaught in northern Gaza was the latest episode in a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 46,500 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza. -AA
