Why the Israeli army is invading northern Gaza a second time

Families carry their belongings and everything they own in small bags and leave in droves. In the background behind them is thick black smoke, while the sound of shelling, artillery, and intense gunfire never stops. What makes this scene different from all the other stages of this genocidal war is that it is happening in the town of Jabalia and Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza — the place where Israel had declared at the start of the year that Hamas’s military presence had been effectively eliminated. 

Five months later, the Israeli army is going back in and launching a large-scale military operation in northern Gaza. It is proceeding in tandem with the invasion of Rafah to the south. One crime to cover up another.

The reason for the second invasion of the north has been plastered on computer and phone screens over the past few days: improbable videos of fighters from the Qassam Brigades (Hamas’s military wing) launching complex attacks on Israeli forces, including rocket and mortar attacks, traps and ambushes of soldiers, and the targeting of tanks. The fact that it is happening now as Israel has started its invasion of Rafah is also not a coincidence.

Resistance factions have been able to regroup and resituate their fighting from the south to the north. They are thus sending a message to Israel that they still exist in the north contrary to its claims, and that a similar invasion of Rafah would also fail to “dismantle” them.

Analysts on Al Jazeera argue that the resistance is putting pressure on the army by forcing it to return to northern Gaza and divert some of its forces away from Rafah. Haaretz has also confirmed this, reporting that several Israeli army brigades that had been slated to be part of the Rafah operation, such as the 98th Division, is now fighting in Jabalia.

To that end, the Qassam Brigades have employed a number of diverse and qualitative offensive tactics and released videos of their operations. They have used drones for the first time since the end of last November, dropping explosives on top of Merkava tanks. According to an announcement by the Qassam Brigades on May 12, Hamas fighters targeted several tanks in the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City and in the Mabhouh area east of Jabalia, and when soldiers fled the tanks and barricaded themselves in nearby buildings, the fighters reportedly blew up those houses with the soldiers inside them. As of the time of writing, the Qassam Brigades have targeted over ten military vehicles, fired mortar barrages in the Zeitoun neighborhood, carried out sniper operations in the same area, and launched a salvo of rockets from Jabalia that reached Ashkelon.

What’s more, residents in northern Gaza told Mondoweiss that leaks have spread in northern Gaza indicating that the various resistance factions in the areas of Jabalia, Jabalia refugee camp, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun, all north of Gaza City, have united all their brigades. This would appear to correspond to the analysis that the resistance is mounting a formidable offensive to disrupt the Rafah invasion.

Residents in northern Gaza also confirm that the clashes in the area have been fierce, and that the operations of the resistance in combat zones have been some of the largest witnessed since the start of the war.

Other residents told Mondoweiss that the army is facing difficulty in entering those areas in northern Gaza again, and its response has been to pursue a strategy of wholesale destruction and widespread bombing of the area before entering it, as it has since the start of the war. Some residents told Mondoweiss the invasion was like the “horrors of doomsday.” 

All of this is taking place in the north while resistance in the south has also stepped up the rate of qualitative operations. Just today, the Qassam Brigades put out a video of a complex tunnel ambush involving the use of EFPs and RPG rocket launchers against soldiers and military vehicles, signaling that the fighting in Gaza is intensifying on all fronts.

The first exit will be the last

As the battle rages on with the resistance, the Israeli army’s wholesale destruction has followed a similar pattern as previous invasions — the army surrounds shelters, cuts off communications with the outside world, and then goes in and commits massacres and carries out field executions.

On Friday morning, May 10, the Israeli army began sending messages and phone calls in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Jabalia refugee camp, and the Awda refugee camp. That night, the army surrounded the school shelters housing the displaced in the Jabalia area and completely demolished entire residential blocks, including over 20 buildings. These lands were also razed, according to on-the-ground testimonies collected by Mondoweiss. Three days later, the Israeli army cut off communications from the Jabalia area. 

Dozens of people have so far been reported killed in those areas, the majority of whom have not yet been recovered from the rubble and their bombed homes. In the coming days and weeks, news might begin to surface of new atrocities and the unearthing of new mass graves in northern Gaza.

Although residents in these areas were warned at the beginning of the war to leave their homes, most refused and remained where they were.

This time is different. After witnessing countless bloody massacres in the north, most infamously the massacre at al-Shifa Hospital in March, many are now thinking twice about staying put.

Rania Moussa, 36, a mother of four children, remained in Jabalia refugee camp since the start of the war. She decided early on not to obey the Israeli army’s orders to leave her neighborhood, defying the harrowing conditions to which the Jabalia region has been subjected, including bombings, arrests, demolitions, and extrajudicial killings. 

But this time, the massacre at al-Shifa is weighing heavily on Rania’s mind. She believes that what happened at al-Shifa is already repeating itself in Jabalia, which is why she and her family decided to leave and go to Gaza City when the army first gave the evacuation order. 

Then she found out that the army had also invaded al-Zeitoun east of Gaza City. 

“We did not know that the occupation would return to Jabalia camp after all these months,” she told Mondoweiss. “We’ve been experiencing shelling and artillery on a daily basis since the start, but now everything is different. The presence of the army up close and next to us is different.” 

When the army is that close to the civilian population, Rania said, “killing becomes easier than drinking water for soldiers.” 

“What happened at al-Shifa made us flee our homes for fear that we would be one of the victims buried in the sand and garbage, and with time, no one would recognize us,” Rania explained. “I do not want my children to be buried and cut up and left out in the open for dogs to maul them. I did not want this for my family, so I fled to the al-Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City.”

Not everyone is leaving, however, even as residents tell Mondoweiss that the second invasion of northern Gaza appears to be more violent and destructive than the last. They expect that this time the scale of the destruction will be total and will not leave a single building standing, but some are still insisting on remaining — because the first exit from the north will be the last, and there will be no return.