400,000 trapped in hell of northern Gaza, UN says, as death toll passes 42,000

At least 400,000 people remain trapped in northern Gaza, the UN has said, as Israeli forces press on with a raid on the Jabalia refugee camp.

The commissioner general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has warned that tens of thousands of people have nowhere to go despite evacuation orders from the Israeli army.

The Israeli military says the raid, now in its fifth day, is intended to stop Hamas fighters staging further attacks from Jabalia and to prevent them regrouping.

Mr Lazzarini wrote on X/Twitter, that there was “no end to hell” for “at least 400,000 trapped people” many of whom are refusing to leave “because they know too well that no place anywhere in Gaza is safe”.

The Gaza health ministry said the army had ordered three hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate and that hundreds of patients and medics were trapped inside those facilities. “The lives of dozens of patients are at risk because of the Israeli siege around those hospitals,” it said in a statement, with Palestinian medics saying that dozens of people had been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Wednesday.

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The overall death toll in Gaza moved past 42,000 on Wednesday, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip. While up to 51,000 children in the besieged enclave could be unaccompanied or separated from their parents, the International Rescue Committee has warned. The stark figure is another result of frequent “evacuation orders, detentions and attacks” which have contributed to more families being separated, the charity said.

Mr Lazzarini also said some UNRWA shelters and services were being forced to shut down for the first time since the war began and that with almost no basic supplies available, hunger was spreading again in northern Gaza. Israel did not immediately comment on Mr Lazzarini’s remarks, but Israeli authorities have previously said they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions.

This is the third instance in the last year where Israeli forces have reentered Jabalia and its refugee camp, with the last operation in May displacing tens of thousands of people.

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Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to a bloody attack inside Israel on 7 October by Hamas, during which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas has displaced 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3m population, often multiple times and Israeli bombardment, in addition to the 42,000 deaths. Air and ground operations have caused vast destruction.

Gaza’s health ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabalia over three days starting Sunday and another 14 from communities farther north. Medics say further casualties have been reported but because of repeated incoming fire, they are unable to reach the bodies.

An airstrike in Jabalia early Wednesday killed at least nine people, including two women and two children, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies. Strikes in central Gaza killed another nine people, including three children, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.