Israel’s military operation in northern Gaza was imperiling some of the last functioning hospitals in the area, Gazan health officials said on Saturday, as Israeli forces plowed ahead with what appeared to be one of their fiercest offensives in the enclave in months.
The Gazan health ministry said that Israeli forces had encircled three medical centers in northern Gaza — the Kamal Adwan, al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — at roughly midnight. The Israeli military confirmed its forces were operating near the Indonesian Hospital but declined to comment immediately on the other two.
According to the ministry, Israeli forces had fired gunshots and artillery in the direction of the Indonesian Hospital, on the outskirts of Jabaliya, the focus of an intense Israeli raid that has lasted days. More than 40 patients and medical staff were injured in the attacks, and two patients in critical condition died when the hospital lost power, the head of the World Health Organization said in a statement on social media on Saturday.
The Israeli military said it was trying to minimize harm to civilians during its operations near the Indonesian Hospital. “The hospital continues to operate without disruption and in full capacity, and there was no intentional fire directed at it,” the military said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the military said late Saturday that it had evacuated about 100 people from Jabaliya during its operations in Jabaliya and had been working to ensure that hospital emergency services would continue to function. It did not specifically address the Gazan health ministry’s claims that Israeli forces had encircled the Kamal Adwan and al-Awda medical centers.
Israeli forces stormed Jabaliya this month in at least their third major offensive there since the beginning of the war a year ago, in what the military has characterized as an offensive against resurgent Hamas fighters in the area. The operation has pressed ahead in the days since Israel killed Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, in a firefight in southern Gaza, dampening hopes that his death could pave the way to an easing of the war.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Saturday, according to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman.
Israel issued evacuation warnings in Jabaliya last week, but many people have stayed behind, believing they have nowhere safe to flee to. The United Nations has said that the remaining residents are in effect under siege.
Jonathan Whittall, a senior U.N. humanitarian official in Jerusalem, on Saturday called the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in northern Gaza “deeply alarming.” Israel has allowed relatively few aid trucks into the area since the beginning of the month, raising the threat of hunger and deprivation.
“Tens of thousands are displaced, and we have received reports today of hospitals under fire with staff and patients injured,” Mr. Whittall said in a statement. “We are ready to provide food and essential supplies, but lives are being lost, and time is running out.”
On Saturday, the fog of war hung over Jabaliya: Many residents were inaccessible by phone or text message. Paltel, a major Palestinian cellular provider, said the Israeli assault had caused wide-ranging communication blackouts in northern Gaza, making it difficult to independently confirm what was taking place within the hospitals.
The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency service under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said that Israeli strikes overnight had killed or injured dozens of people in Jabaliya.
Hani al-Dibs, a high school teacher from the town, said by phone on Saturday that his family had stayed in their home, feeling that they had nowhere safe to go. If they abandoned their house, Hamas fighters might use it as a military post, leading Israeli forces to bombard it, he said.
Israeli forces have also attacked schools and hospitals where people sought shelter, arguing that Hamas was attempting to operate there unscathed.
“In my home, I know we’re no threat to the Israeli army,” Mr. al-Dibs said. “Any place that we might flee to — how can we be certain we won’t find ourselves next to someone they want?”
For nearly two weeks, he and his family stayed in Jabaliya as the fighting grew more intense. They stayed in the center of the house and avoided its windows and doors, fearing that Israeli soldiers might mistake them for militants, he said.
On Friday morning, an explosion ripped through part of his home, burying several of his relatives, including his mother. Mr. al-Dibs survived but said his wife and two of his four young children were still under the rubble.
Paramedics rushed Mr. al-Dibs and other survivors to the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. As for his remaining family members, he said emergency responders had been unable to reach the scene because of the fighting.
While some people have stayed, tens of thousands have fled Jabaliya since Israel began its operation there two weeks ago, including 20,000 on Friday alone, according to UNRWA, the main United Nations agency that aids Palestinians in Gaza.
Even on the edges of town, newly displaced Gazans can still hear constant bursts of shelling and bombardment in Jabaliya.
Montaser Bahja, an English teacher and Jabaliya resident, fled with his wife and children after a relative was wounded by gunfire on one of the first days of the Israeli offensive. Now in Gaza City, he desperately worries about the fate of his house, which he fears may have been bombarded in their absence.
“It feels like Gaza is over, done,” said Mr. Bahja, 50. “Even if the war ends — how could we ever rebuild? Who will want to live here?”
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