Gaza: 15 Palestinian IDPs martyred in Beit Hanoun, warnings of environmental disaster due to accumulation of bodies

Fifteen Palestinians were killed and dozens were injured on Sunday when Israeli forces stormed a school housing displaced people in the Abd Rabbo estate in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while a relief organization warned of an environmental disaster due to the accumulation of bodies in the streets.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli army stormed the Khalil Awida School in the town of Beit Hanoun after a siege that lasted for hours, amid gunfire and artillery shelling of the surrounding area, which resulted in deaths and injuries among the displaced people inside the school.

Witnesses said that the Israeli army forced the displaced women, children and elderly inside the school to flee again towards Gaza City, and arrested dozens of young men.

The storming of the school is still ongoing, while the bodies of the dead and wounded are spread throughout the school grounds and surrounding roads, according to witnesses.

Warning of environmental disaster

Mohammed Abu Afash, director of the Medical Relief Organization in the Gaza Strip (non-governmental), warned on Sunday of a “serious environmental disaster” due to the accumulation of bodies of dead Palestinians in the streets, as a result of the ongoing Israeli genocide in the northern areas of the Strip.

Abu Afash added, in a press statement, that there are large numbers of dead bodies in the streets that cannot be reached, noting that "stray dogs and cats are devouring the piled-up bodies, which portends a serious environmental disaster."

Regarding the shortage of medical personnel and supplies, Abu Afash pointed out that there are no surgeons to perform difficult operations on the wounded, due to the Israeli army’s repeated targeting of hospitals and medical personnel and not allowing doctors to reach northern Gaza.

He explained that the World Health Organization was able to bring in a very small amount of fuel and medical supplies and was able to transfer only 6 wounded people from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia to Gaza City.

The health system in the Gaza Strip, especially in the north, is witnessing a tragic reality due to Israel’s targeting of hospitals and putting them out of service, its siege imposed on the Strip, its prevention of the entry of medicines and health supplies, and its halting of the movement of patients and the wounded to receive treatment outside the Strip.

The intensive Israeli bombardment continues on various areas of the Gaza Strip, especially the northern governorate, where the army has been carrying out a military operation since October 5, starting with a new ground invasion of the region, under the pretext of "preventing Hamas from regaining its strength in the region."

With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving more than 151,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Israel continues its massacres, ignoring two arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on November 21 against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel also defies the UN Security Council resolution to end the war immediately, and the International Court of Justice's orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Anatolia