Amid gunfire and Israeli artillery shelling, Palestinian doctors say they have started removing premature babies and other patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp as troops and tanks surround it.
The Israeli army is carrying out its third ground offensive in the area since the start of the Gaza war, saying it is focusing on regrouping Hamas fighters looking to launch attacks.
Two other local hospitals are virtually inaccessible and risk evacuation orders, Gaza health officials say.
Dozens of people have reportedly been killed and injured in the north in recent days.
The Hamas-run Civil Protection Agency said Monday that its first responders had recovered the bodies of 15 people after an Israeli attack on a tent camp for displaced people next to al-Yemen’s al-Saeed hospital.
It also said five people were killed in an attack on a family home in the camp, which had more than 110,000 registered residents before the war.
Meanwhile, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) warned that his own shelters and services were being forced to close.
“With almost no basic services available, hunger is spreading and increasing again,” said Philippe Lazzarini, adding that the second phase of the polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza was also threatened.
Residents have spoken to the BBC about their fear and despair.
“I have been displaced more than ten times. I have moved from house to house, from school to school, under shelling and from street to street,” said Ahmed Leki, a 50-year-old father from the Falluja area of Jabalia.
“We are exhausted, completely exhausted. There’s nothing left. Where can we go? We have small children and there is no safe place in Gaza, not a single safe inch,” he added.
“We left our homes as shells rained down on us, with bombing, destruction and mayhem all around us. Enough is enough.”
In recent days, new evacuation orders have been issued by the Israeli military covering a large area in the north of the enclave, including Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and parts of Gaza City.
All residents of the north – estimated at 400,000 people – have been told to go south.
“Displacement is extremely difficult, a tragedy. There is no transportation, no need for survival. Men, women and children ask, ‘Where are we going?’ and the answer is: ‘I don’t know,’” said Bilal al-Amreeti, a local man.
“The sound of Israeli warplanes is overhead, bombing is going on and the shelling continues everywhere.”
Despite Israel’s promises, many Gaza residents fear that the country wants to depopulate the north of the Gaza Strip and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement.
