GAZA CITY, Palestine

Civil defense operations have been halted in northern Gaza due to ongoing Israeli attacks, the agency said on Wednesday.

“Our operations have been halted for the 22nd day in a row in northern Gaza due to the Israeli aggression,” it said in a statement.

“Thousands of people there are now without humanitarian and medical care.”

Israeli army forces attacked civil defense crews, seized their vehicles on Oct. 23 and forced its medics to flee to central and southern Gaza.

The agency appealed to all humanitarian organizations to intervene to provide help to thousands of Palestinians besieged by the Israeli army in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army has continued a deadly onslaught in northern Gaza since Oct. 5 to allegedly prevent Hamas from regrouping amid a suffocating siege on the area. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, was allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there on the verge of imminent famine.

More than 2,000 people have since been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has continued a devastating offensive on Gaza since an attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, in October 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 43,700 people have since been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and over 103,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar