Displacement of “Al-Shifa” refugees… and horrific bombing of Jabalia

Yesterday (Saturday), Israel began the forced displacement of hundreds of Palestinians who took shelter in the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, coinciding with a horrific bombing that targeted the Jabalia area in the northern Gaza Strip.

While the Israeli army announced a series of “achievements” and said it had killed Hamas officials, the “Al-Qassam Brigades” announced the killing of more of its soldiers and the destruction of tanks and vehicles. In the evening, the Israeli army acknowledged the killing of six of its members, including three officers.

Sources in the Gaza factions confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Israeli army advanced on the outskirts of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and in Jabalia, but was facing violent resistance.

Yesterday, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced that at least 80 people were killed in two separate Israeli raids in the Jabalia camp. An official in the Hamas ministry reported that “at least 50” people were killed in a dawn bombing that targeted the UN-run Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia, which called for widespread condemnations, including a Saudi condemnation that affirmed the Kingdom’s rejection of the systematic targeting of civilians, and its demand It is necessary to ensure the protection of relief facilities and their workers, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For his part, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the “horrific” raids on the agency’s schools in the Gaza Strip housing displaced people. Footage spread on social media showed bodies covered in blood and lying on the ground in the school corridors and classrooms.

In a separate raid that targeted a house in Jabalia camp, 32 people from the Abu Habal family were killed, including 19 children.

This came at a time when the Israeli army said it had expanded the scope of the evacuation of Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip at the request of the hospital director. He added that if some Gazans, who have taken refuge in the area surrounding the largest hospital in the Strip, want to leave, they will be offered safe passage. But Palestinians who left the Shifa complex said they were forcibly removed.

Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that the ministerial committee assigned by the emergency Arab-Islamic summit will begin its international tour, Monday, with the aim of reaching an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, accelerating the entry of aid and ending the war.

In Manama, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi announced his country’s rejection of any possibility of deploying Arab forces in the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, saying that “after discussing this issue with many and with almost all of our Arab brothers, Arab forces will not head to Gaza.”

In Cairo, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced yesterday that she opposes the “forced displacement” of Palestinians, after her meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.