Israeli Army Pushing Gazans Southward, Prohibiting Them From Taking Belongings - Israel News - Haaretz.com
The Israeli army is forcing residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move southward and preventing them from taking their personal belongings with them.
They are being forced to leave behind clothing, though humanitarian organizations say there is a shortage of warm clothing in the enclave. In the past week, it was reported that six babies and one adult died of hypothermia.
The army said this claim is completely baseless, and that people moving south can take any personal property they please with them, aside from weapons and munitions.
Most of the displaced people from northern Gaza move south through the IDF checkpoint that separates Jabalya from Gaza City. Soldiers at the checkpoint, on Salah al-Din Road, search their belongings and demand that they leave a good portion of them behind.
A source who was at the checkpoint last week said he saw large piles of clothing and other property there that the soldiers had ordered the Gazans to abandon. In addition, around six weeks ago, another soldier filmed a ride in an armored vehicle along the road separating Jabalya from Gaza City, with the clip he later posted showing backpacks left behind by residents who were forced to move south. Yet another video of the piles of clothing and personal property was posted by a Palestinian who passed through the checkpoint a few days ago.
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The Middle East Eye website recently published the story of a Palestinian who went with his family to a camp for displaced people in southern Gaza and was forced to leave his belongings behind. He said he had taken a lot of clothing for his wife and children because the cold in the tents is intolerable, but the soldiers forced him to throw all the clothing and other gear away. They even took his cellphone, he told the website. He added that he saw a large pit full of objects belonging to displaced families.
Those displaced from the north are moving south because of the army's operations. Since the latest operation in northern Gaza began three months ago, the IDF has been urging residents to leave the area. However, it isn't allowing any Palestinians to move from southern to northern Gaza. It also allows almost no humanitarian aid into northern Gaza's three main population centers – Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and the Jabalya refugee camp.
The evacuation of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, northern Gaza's largest medical center, has also contributed to emptying the north of its inhabitants. Last weekend, the IDF arrested the hospital director and 240 others who were at the site; the army claimed they were connected to Hamas.
According to a UN survey conducted 11 days ago, some of the people fleeing from the north arrive at the one of the four camps for displaced people on foot, with nothing at all. Once there, they encounter a severe shortage of basic goods. According to the survey, which was published on Tuesday in a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, all the camps for displaced people in Gaza have shortages of diapers, baby formula and mobility assistance devices for people with disabilities.
According to humanitarian organizations, there is also a shortage of shelters capable of withstanding rain. In recent days, the Palestinian civil defense agency reported that hundreds of families were forced to abandon their tents after they flooded due to the rainy weather.
Nevertheless, aid agencies are prioritizing getting displaced people food rather than winter gear. According to OCHA's report, this is due to the challenges of moving the aid and attacks by looters. Consequently, between December 1 and 26, just 24 trucks entered southern Gaza carrying tents and other winter gear for more than 1.5 million displaced people.
The UN survey found that some camps also have a shortage of toilets, forcing the displaced Gazans to use improvised chamber pots. Many have no access to standard fuel for heating and cooking, so they burn plastic and nylon to cook and stay warm. They also lack ways to store water.
Meanwhile, the quality of water in Gaza keeps deteriorating. Checks recently conducted in southern and central Gaza found that 73 percent of drinking water didn't meet minimal standards for chlorination, while 19 percent was contaminated with fecal coliforms. The latter figure rose to 21 percent in water used by hospitals.
The OCHA report said that conditions in the tent cities for displaced people are "desperate and deteriorating," and it is "tragically foreseeable that more children's lives will be lost to the inhumane conditions they are enduring."