Translated from French by PAJU
While Israel continues to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza, franceinfo was able to collect the testimony of this resident who fled the north of the enclave where he claims that “ethnic cleansing” is taking place.
What’s happening in northern Gaza? The ultimatum that the United States gave Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the region ends on Wednesday, November 13, while the Hebrew state had 30 days. It is difficult to know what is happening precisely in this region: foreign journalists are still banned from entering the area. Franceinfo was however able to collect the rare testimony of a resident, Youssef, who left the north of the enclave recently, fleeing under the bombs.
It is the story of a forced exile. “It was difficult. When we reached Zayed Square, they started shooting at us. They targeted vacant lots with artillery. Shrapnel injured people. We left on foot. It was terrifying. Terrifying!” he exclaims.
This exile began a little over a month ago, in October 2024, when the Israeli army accelerated its offensive on the Jabalia refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip. Youssef then left with his wife and three children. The fourth died in a bombing almost a year ago. Youssef fled the city, gripped with fear, with all his neighbors.
“We left on foot. They emptied our bags and asked us to undress, to stay in our underwear. If there is any doubt about a person, they are taken aside and subjected to a full search.”
“If they decide to arrest somone, they put him in a white garment, blindfold him and then he is taken away… We don’t know what happens to him,” he continues.
More than the lack of humanitarian aid, it was the incessant artillery fire that made Youssef flee, much worse, he says, than the air raids. Buildings have been destroyed and there have been no rescuers for several weeks to go and save the victims, he reports. “I left because of the random strikes. There are no more safe places in the region. Houses, hospitals… Bodies lie in the streets and dogs eat them.”
“The situation in Jabalia is catastrophic. It’s horrible. What they are doing is ethnic cleansing. That’s what we call genocide.”
When asked, the Israeli army categorically refutes the accusation of genocide. It assures that it targets Hamas fighters and minimizes, “as much as possible” civilian losses, maintains one of its spokespersons.
On November 11, the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries meeting in Saudi Arabia called on Israel to withdraw completely from the Arab territories it occupies in order to achieve a “comprehensive” peace in the Middle East. “A just and comprehensive peace in the region (…) cannot be achieved without putting an end to the Israeli occupation of all the territories occupied” since 1967 – when Israel began to occupy the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan – “and this in accordance with the UN resolutions and the Arab peace plan of 2002“, mentions the final declaration of the summit. This joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, hosted by regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, calls for the unity of all Palestinian territories – the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank – within a Palestinian state, whose capital it reaffirms must be East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel.
According to data from Hamas’s Health Ministry, nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli reprisals after Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally. Ninety-seven people kidnapped that day remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom are reported dead by the army.
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PAJU Note :
The genocide being enacted against Palestinian civilians in Gaza is, in fact, far greater in terms of deaths than is reflected by official numbers which do not take into account the thousands of missing Palestinians buried under the rubble resulting from Israel’s incessant carpet-bombing of Gaza. The Lancet, a British medical journal estimates that the toll may reach as many as 186, 000 deaths.
