GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Israeli army pounded the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, in the latest episode of Israel’s ongoing offensive that has killed more than 42,000 people since last year.

The army started its new offensive on Sunday, claiming that the operation aims to prevent Hamas from regaining strength in northern Gaza.

As part of the onslaught, the Israeli army ordered Palestinian residents in Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia to leave their homes and head south.

Many Palestinians, however, said they would not leave.

“Death is better than leaving,” Ibrahim Awda, 42, who lives with his family in a tent in the Jabalia refugee camp, told Anadolu.

"The occupation is trying to force us to migrate and move south after a year of steadfastness in the north and after losing our homes and jobs,” he said.

Awda, who lost two sons and his home in Israeli attacks, said Palestinian residents in the Jabalia camp refuse to heed the Israeli evacuation orders.

"They will not leave their homes in northern Gaza unless we die,” the defiant Palestinian said.

According to an Anadolu reporter, the Israeli army has slapped a tight siege around northern Gaza from all directions, cutting it off from Gaza City.

The military offensive in Jabalia is the third by the Israeli army in the camp since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last year.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes in the camp in past months, according to local health authorities.

No safe place

Awda said the Israeli army is trying to deceive residents of northern Gaza by claiming that the territory’s south is “safe” for them.

“Israel's continued crimes and deliberate killing of displaced civilians expose its lies,” he added.

He cited the death of at least 26 people this weekend in Israeli attacks on a school and mosque sheltering displaced people in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

“These massacres occurred on the same day the Israeli army issued evacuation orders for us to head south,” Awda said.

Mureed Ahmad, 26, shares the same view.

"We refused to leave our homes since the first day of the war. We will not accept to leave now,” he told Anadolu.

The young Palestinian believes that the Israeli army is using “military pressure” to force the residents of Jabalia to evacuate and move south.

"This policy has proved its failure,” he said. “Palestinian residents refuse to leave their homes although the Israeli army forces are closing in.”

Palestinian authorities estimate that there are around 700,000 people still living in northern Gaza.

Siege

The Israeli army has repeatedly issued orders for Palestinians to evacuate their areas since the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

According to observers, a map of the targeted areas aligns with a plan formulated by former Israeli generals.

The plan, revealed in September, calls for the complete evacuation of northern Gaza, followed by a siege on the area to force Palestinian fighters there to surrender.

The Israeli government has not officially adopted the plan, but the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said that Israel’s Security Cabinet was considering the scheme.

The northern Gaza Strip has been reeling under a tight Israeli siege that has left the territory’s entire population on the verge of famine.

As'ad Al-Nadi, a resident of Jabalia, said he had sought to flee the area with his family towards a “safe zone” in western Gaza City.

“However, we were directly targeted, leaving my 16-year-old son injured,” he recalled.

He had to carry his son on his shoulder to be moved by an ambulance to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital for medical attention.

Although he still fears for his family, Al-Nadi says he will not leave his home in Jabalia and move south.

“I may move within northern Gaza, but I will never move to the south,” he stressed. “All those who fled to southern Gaza with the outbreak of the war have been unable to return to northern Gaza until today.”

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar