section_path: War in Israel and Gaza/Continued operations throughout Gaza (October–December 2024)/Siege of northern Gaza
section_name: Siege of northern Gaza
paragraph_text: Siege of northern Gaza
  
  On 13 October, senior IDF officials told Haaretz that the government was not seeking to revive hostage talks and that political leadership was pushing for the annexation of parts of the Gaza Strip. In the later weeks of October, Israel's siege of North Gaza intensified and daily aid shipments dropped significantly. Eyewitnesses reported the shelling of hospitals, razing of shelters, and abductions of men and boys by the Israeli military, leading to speculation that Israel had decided to implement a plan by a group of retired generals to turn the northern Strip into a closed military zone and declare all who refuse to leave as combatants. On 5 November, Israeli Brigadier General Itzik Cohen told reporters that "there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return" and that no food aid had entered northern Gaza because there were "no more civilians left".
  
  The IDF continued its encirclement of Jabalia by sending tanks to Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun and issuing evacuation orders to residents. On 24 October, an IDF attack destroyed at least 10 residential buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp. According to an assessment by Gaza Civil Defense, 150 people were killed or injured. On 25 October, the WHO said it had lost contact with Kamal Adwan hospital, and UN human rights chief Volker Türk called recent developments in North Gaza the "darkest moment" in the war so far. Food aid to Gaza reached a new low in October at an average of 30 trucks per day, or less than 6% of the daily pre-war average. Residents of northern Gaza said in November that no aid had reached their cities since 5 October. The UN warned that the situation had become "apocalyptic" and that "The entire Palestinian population in North Gaza is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence". On 2 November, UNICEF said that over 50 children were killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia in the past two days. On 12 November, aid in Gaza fell to its lowest level in 11 months despite a US ultimatum that it be restored.
  
  On 24 November, Israel issued a new wave of evacuation orders, triggering another round of displacements in Jabalia. UNRWA said that Israel had rejected nine attempts to deliver aid to north Gaza in the month of November and obstructed an additional 82 attempts; they added that the survival conditions were diminishing for the 60,000 to 70,000 civilians remaining in north Gaza. Mahmoud Almadhoun, a chef who founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen, was targeted and killed by an Israeli quadcopter near Kamal Adwan hospital. On 5 December, Israeli Army Radio announced that 18,000 Palestinians were evacuated from Beit Lahia and that soldiers killed approximately 20 militants during fighting on the previous day.
  
  On 13 December, Israeli tank fire killed Dr. Sayeed Joudeh, the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza. On 26 December, an Israeli air strike hit a building in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital, killing about 50 people, including five staff. Over the next days, the World Health Organization announced that the hospital had been put out of service by Israeli attacks and the hospital's director, Hussam Abu Safiya, had been abducted: the IDF forced patients to evacuate to an already-destroyed hospital by cutting off their oxygen. The IDF claimed to have killed 19 militants during its raid; Gaza Health Ministry said that 50 people including hospital staff were killed.