An Israeli strike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza in Jabalia killed 22 | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

At least 22 people, including women and children, were killed during an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as Israeli forces continued their offensive in the area.

As the death toll increased on Saturday, the Israeli army issued orders for the evacuation of people in northern Gaza and issued orders for residents near Jabalia to evacuate towards the south of the area.

Israeli forces launched an offensive in the Jabalia area last week that they say is aimed at preventing the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping. The attack has trapped thousands of Palestinian citizens, the charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said.

The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported on Saturday that Israeli warplanes bombed a multi-storey apartment complex in Jabalia on Friday night, hitting four residential buildings and killing 22 people.

At least 30 people were injured, while 14 others are still missing and believed to be buried under the rubble, according to Wafa.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said “a powerful explosion was heard in the northern part of the Gaza Strip”, adding that most of the injured “arrived at the hospital in pieces or covered in blood.”.

Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north was close to running out of fuel and staff said the Israeli army had ordered them to leave.

Reporting from the center, Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout described the week-long siege as “suffocating”.

The situation is “difficult”, he reported, as the hospital was ordered by the Israeli army to stop working. But he said it continues to treat patients from the most seriously injured to newborns.

In Gaza City, at least three people died and many others were injured after a strike that hit a house in Tuffah, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

A new exit order

The Israeli military posted a map of northern Gaza on social media on Saturday with orders for residents near Jabalia to leave.

“The area must be cleared immediately [Salah al-Din Street] in the humanitarian area,” said the message, referring to the so-called humanitarian areas designated by Israel between al-Mawasi and Deir el-Balah.

The “humanitarian zone”, which is already full of overcrowded tents that house about a million Palestinians, has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces.

During the evacuation order, MSF project coordinator Sarah Vuylsteke wrote in X that “no one is allowed to enter or exit” inside Jabalia itself, adding that “anyone who tries is shot”.

Five MSF workers were trapped in Jabalia, he said.

“I don’t know what to do; at any time we can die. People are starving. I’m afraid to sit, and I’m afraid to walk,” Haydar, an MSF driver, was quoted as saying.

Earlier, MSF condemned Israel’s efforts to “forcefully push thousands of people from the north of Gaza to the south”.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza-based reporter Anas al-Sharif wrote on X early Saturday that the condition of Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi has “deteriorated significantly”.

On Wednesday, al-Wahidi was hit by a live round in the neck while covering an Israeli attack on Jabalia. His colleague Ali al-Attar was also shot and injured when he spoke about the situation of Palestinians who have lost their place in Deir el-Balah.

Most of Gaza has been destroyed since Israel began its war on the Palestinian territory after a Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that 42,175 people have been killed and 98,336 injured in Israeli attacks since October 2023.

The number includes 49 dead and 219 injured in the last 24 hours, according to the department.