The Israeli occupation forces have continued their bombardment of northern Gaza for the 13th day, carrying out killings, blowing up homes, and forcibly displacing civilians, WAFA news agency reported. 

The Civil Defence in Gaza said it is unable to retrieve the bodies of dozens of individuals trapped beneath the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia. 

"Jabalia is being exterminated and subjected to systematic death," it added. 

Meanwhile, Jabalia residents said Israeli forces blew up clusters of houses by air and tank shells and by placing bombs in buildings before blowing them up remotely, Reuters reported. 

Gaza's civil emergency service said it evacuated several wounded people from a school sheltering displaced Palestinians that caught fire after being hit by Israeli tank shells. 

Residents also told Reuters that the Israeli army had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the strip from Gaza City, blocking movement except for those families with permission to heed evacuation orders and leave the three towns. 

However, many residents insist on not being displaced to southern Gaza, despite the war and the intense pressure by Israel to put the health system in northern Gaza out of service, after it requested the Kamal Adwan, Indonesian, and Al-Awda hospitals to evacuate on 10 October. 

Since Thursday dawn, Israeli bombardment has killed at least 17 Palestinians across Gaza.

Six of the fatalities were recovered from Al-Fukhari town, east of Khan Younis, while 11 were killed in Gaza City, media reports said citing medical sources. 

Real risk of famine
 

Acting Humanitarian Chief Joyce Msuya accused Israel of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza, saying there is barely any food left in the north where an Israeli offensive is underway, AP reported. 

No food entered northern Gaza from 2 October to 15 October, “when a trickle was allowed in,” the top UN humanitarian official said Wednesday during a UN Security Council emergency meeting. 

“All essential supplies for survival are running out,” she added.

“There is now barely any food left to distribute, and most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in the next several days without additional fuel,” Msuya noted.

Furthermore, she stated that less than one-third of the 286 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israeli authorities in the first two weeks of October “were facilitated without major incidents or delays” throughout Gaza. 

Msuya said the level of suffering and reality in Gaza is brutal and worsens every day as Israeli bombs fall, fierce fighting continues, and “supplies essential for people’s survival and humanitarian assistance are blocked at every turn.” 

In addition, Head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini warned that "a real risk of famine or acute malnutrition is unfortunately again a likelihood," pointing to the upcoming winter and the weakened immune systems of Gazans. 

It became "a kind of wasteland, which I would say is almost unliveable," Lazzarini described the humanitarian situation in Gaza.