Ambulance crews recover several decomposed bodies following the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Jabalia camp and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. Photo circulated on X (formerly Twitter)
The weekslong ground operation, which began on 12 May, forced thousands of displaced civilians to flee toward other parts of the Palestinian strip. Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that many of Jabalia's residents have already evacuated to areas in western Gaza City.
After 20 days buried under the rubble, Palestinians excavated the bodies of children killed by an Israeli airstrike during the invasion of the camp.
Decomposed bodies could be seen on the roads, and graphic footage also showed the skeletal remains of a Palestinian woman and her children, found in the camp following the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces.
A family was able to find the body of their son, a 19-year-old, from his dental structure.
The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, said it received horrific reports from Jabalia. "Displaced people, including children, reportedly killed and injured sheltering in our school, besieged by Israeli army tanks. Tents of people sheltering at our school reportedly set on fire by the army," UNRWA said.
It also revealed that the UN agency offices have been destroyed by Israeli air strikes and bulldozed by troops.
Israeli troops witnessed fierce resistance from the Palestinian groups during the invasion of the camp, with over 200 Israeli airstrikes raining down on north Gaza's Jabalia area, according to Reuters.
A total of 10 Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation, The Times of Israel reported, as Jabalia residents confirmed that the army had withdrawn from the town.
However, a local emergency committee in northern Gaza urged people not to return to the area under the current situation, warning that Israeli drones have opened fire on people who tried to check on their homes, Anadolu added.
The Israeli withdrawal comes as the occupation troops pushed into central Rafah on Friday, despite international objections and mounting concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the southern Gaza city on Egypt's border.
According to satellite imagery and videos analyzed by The Washington Post, Israeli forces have begun to push into Rafah’s most populated areas in recent days.
Israeli tanks were first spotted on the edges of Tal Al-Sultan early this week. Visuals verified by The Post show military vehicles just south of the neighbourhood on Tuesday, aligning with eyewitness accounts.
Residents have reported heavy shelling in the neighbourhood since the tanks arrived. At least 83 people have been killed in Rafah since Friday, according to Mohammad al-Mughair, a local civil defence official.
Forty-five of them died Sunday night in an Israeli strike on a makeshift encampment for displaced people in Tal Al-Sultan, which unleashed a raging fire and sent shrapnel flying through flimsy tents.
The Israeli occupation army confirmed Friday that its forces are operating in central parts of Rafah in its expanding offensive in the southern Gaza city.
Palestinians who fled the city have scattered around southern and central Gaza, most of them living in squalid tent camps.
Up to around 400,000 people are believed to remain in the area, some of them still in the central urban parts of the city.
Shaina Low, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian group that operates in the area, said most have flocked to rural area west of the city near the coast — an area that has seen deadly Israeli strikes and shelling the past week.
Israel's nearly eight-month war on Gaza has killed at least 36,284 Palestinians and wounded more than 80,000 others, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
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