The siege of North Gaza was an engagement of the Gaza war in the North Gaza Governorate, Gaza Strip, between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian forces. It began on 5 October 2024 when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reinvaded Jabalia and its refugee camp for the first time in months since earlier fighting.
The siege was reportedly part of Israel's "generals' plan" to force Palestinians out of northern Gaza by designating it a combat zone and issuing evacuation orders to civilians under threat of death. The IDF imposed a complete siege on northern Gaza, cutting it off from Gaza City by destroying most of the roads leading south and preventing the entry of aid. Evacuations were hindered, however, by Israeli bombardments and shootings of fleeing civilians, leaving many trapped. Human rights groups raised concerns of war crimes, and Israeli actions were characterized as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Israel attacked hospitals and medical infrastructure, as international bodies warned of disastrous conditions in Jabalia.
Israel's siege extended to Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, with officials stating no food had been allowed to enter either town or Jabalia. A senior COGAT official stated that aid delivery was being confined to Gaza City because there was "no population" remaining in Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 19 January 2025, with the IDF withdrawing from northern Gaza to a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip–Israel border on that same day.
Background
Fighting between Palestinian militants and the IDF had taken place in Beit Hanoun and Jabalia since 27 October 2023 and 8 November 2023, respectively. The IDF also launched raids into Beit Lahia such as the Kamal Adwan Hospital sieges in December 2024 and May 2024.
The IDF encountered "significant resistance" during the fighting in Jabalia and ultimately failed to dismantle Hamas' presence in the city.
On 31 May 2024, the IDF withdrew from North Gaza, including both Beit Hanoun and Jabalia.
In the four months since the Israeli withdrawal, Hamas reportedly reconstituted itself in Jabalia and managed to recruit thousands of new fighters in the area. Hamas also planted explosives in almost all buildings in Jabalia, sometimes even causing the death of its own militants.
Siege
Jabalia
On the evening of 5 October, the IDF began its stated operation to dismantle Hamas control in Jabalia, with the Israeli Air Force launching strikes around the area while armored brigades encircled the Jabalia refugee camp.
The IDF advanced into Jabalia and were met by combined attacks from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). PIJ launched an attack on an Israeli command and control room belonging to forces attempting to penetrate the Jabalia refugee camp.
On 10 October, Hamas organized an ambush which destroyed an IDF mechanized infantry company of 12 vehicles east of the Jabalia camp. The IDF said that an Israeli airstrike on a Hamas command and control centre killed at least 12 Hamas and PIJ commanders.
On 13 October, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the IDF had reached "the heart of Jabalia" and were dismantling Hamas strongholds there. The IDF also attacked a site from which PIJ had launched rockets at Ashkelon the previous day. On the other hand, Palestinian militant forces continued defensive operations in Jabalia with explosives and rockets.
On 17 October, the Israeli air forced bombed the Abu Hussein school. The IDF stated the shelter was a joint Hamas-PIJ "command and control centre" and that it killed 12 militants. The Gaza Health Ministry stated the school bombing killed at least 28 people, including multiple children, with one health official stating, "Civilians and children are being killed, burned under fire". On 18 October, Israel sent an additional army unit into Jabalia.
On 20 October, Ehsan Daxa, an Israeli army colonel who was the commander of the IDF's 401st Brigade in Jabalia, was killed in combat. He is considered to have been the highest-ranking officer to have died in ground combat since the start of the Gaza war.
On 22 October, Hamas said that its fighters detonated an explosive device targeting 12 Israeli soldiers in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing and wounding some of them.
On 17 November, Israeli media reported that that IDF soldiers preparing an ambush in southern Jabalia were themselves ambushed by Hamas fighters.
On 20 December, a Hamas fighter carried out a suicide bombing against an IDF position in the Jabalia camp.
On 30 December, Palestinian militants carried out a "relatively large attack" in multiple waves against IDF positions around the Jabalia camp.
Beit Lahia
On 11 October, clashes between the IDF and Hamas were reported to be taking place in Beit Lahia. Palestinian health officials stated on 27 October that Israeli strikes had killed at least 87 people. On 28 October, an Israeli attack on the Beit Lahia residential square reportedly killed 45 people, with more than 30 trapped under the rubble. After residents of Jabalia fled to Beit Lahia, the IDF then reportedly turned their attention to the town. Sam Rose, a UN official, stated, "People who fled to Beit Lahiya have themselves been bombed". Beit Lahia declared a state of emergency due to Israel's siege and attacks, stating, "We declare that the city is a disaster area due to the Israeli war of extermination and siege, and it has no food, water, hospitals, doctors, services, or communications".
Five people were reportedly killed by Israeli airstrikes in Beit Lahia on 1 November. Rescue teams were also attacked, with three members hit by a drone, while the civil defence stated an Israeli tank destroyed their only fire truck. At least twenty people were reportedly killed during an attack on 4 November, with video showing residents pulling bodies out of the rubble.
On 23 December, Hamas said that some of its fighters stormed an IDF position at a building in Beit Lahia and managed to free several Palestinians who had been detained inside.
Beit Hanoun
In Beit Hanoun, the IDF conducted bombings on the night of 11–12 November and targeted fleeing civilians with drones and sniper fire the next day. The IDF besieged some 130 families in a shelter in the city and forced them to leave at gunpoint.
Despite claiming to have "dismantled Hamas" in Beit Hanoun, Israeli forces who entered the abandoned city on 23 December were immediately ambushed by militants. The IDF acknowledged and incident where a combat vehicle in Beit Hanoun was targeted by anti-tank weapons, eliminating three soldiers.
On 28 December, Israeli forces previously in Rafah were redeployed to begin operating in Beit Hanoun. In another ambush whose details the IDF did not publicise, it acknowledged that three soldiers in Beit Hanoun were wounded and a West Bank settler in the IDF was eliminated.
On 4 January 2025, the IDF destroyed a major Hamas complex in Beit Hanoun.
On 8 January 3 Israel soldiers were killed after their tank hit a booby-trapped pit in Beit Hanoun.
An IDF company commander and his deputy were killed in Beit Hanoun after Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at their vehicle on 6 January, and a further three Israeli soldiers were killed when Hamas detonated an IED under their vehicle and three more were seriously wounded on the 8th.
On 11 January, an Israeli patrol fell into an ambush in Beit Hanoun. A Merkava was hit by an IED explosion, killing all four of its occupants. The remaining soldiers were then attacked by Hamas militants who opened fire on them before withdrawing, wounding a further six.
Evacuation and attacks on civilians
Generals' plan
On 6 October 2024, Israel designated all of the northern Gaza Strip as a combat zone and ordered the entire civilian population to evacuate. Both Israeli military analysts and the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights alleged that this was the first stage of the "generals' plan", a policy proposed by former Israeli general Giora Eiland to force Palestinians out of Gaza on pain of death. The Israeli human rights organizations Gisha, B'Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights and Yesh Din stated there were "alarming signs" that Israel was implementing the plan. Three Israeli reserve soldiers in Gaza stated it was their understanding the general's plan was being practically implemented. The plan has been described by Hamas as genocidal. Others have described the plan as the ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza. The United Nations warned that Israel was not allowing food to enter northern Gaza or Jabalia.
On 7 October, the IDF issued evacuation orders for residents of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia, instructing them to travel southwards to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone. Following these evacuation orders was made more difficult by Israel's ongoing bombardment, as well as drones pursuing and shooting at individuals attempting to flee. Residents reported being trapped in Jabalia, with all roads blocked except the main highway leading out. However, they also stated quadcopters were firing at anyone attempting to leave, with one resident stating, "It’s like hell. We can’t get out."
According to Israeli media, tens of thousands of Palestinians have passed through the IDF security crossing at the Netzarim Corridor to get to the southern Gaza Strip. On 7 October 2024, however, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric stated many people in northern Gaza were "trapped" in their homes and that "few families have crossed Wadi Gaza heading South". Doctors Without Borders stated at least five of their staff members were trapped in Jabalia, stating, "Nobody is allowed to get in or out; anyone who tries is getting shot". UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini stated, "People attempting to flee are getting killed, their bodies left on the street".
Anas al-Sharif, a journalist on the ground, stated that possibly thousands of families were "trapped between tanks, their gunfire, and heavy artillery shelling". One woman stated she was forced from her home "at gunpoint" as tanks and heavily armed soldiers encircled her family, and that young men were separated for interrogation. Another woman stated that in Jabalia, a quadcopter told residents: "Don't think of north Gaza ever again." Israeli footage showed men separated at checkpoints in northern Gaza and possibly detained. The Israeli military released footage of Palestinians being rounded up near the besieged Indonesia Hospital, where they had been sheltering. Residents stated Israeli forced stormed shelters for displaced families and detained men, with footage showing men sitting next to a tank while others were led away by a soldier. The UN Human Rights Office stated it was concerned the men could be subject to arbitrary detainment and torture.
Targeting of civilians
Per the Palestinian Civil Defense, at least 17 people, including 9 children, were killed in the IDF's initial wave of airstrikes. One of those killed was journalist Hassan Hamad, who was reportedly deliberately targeted by Israel after receiving threats via messages and calls from Israeli officers, ordering him to stop his reporting. After an Israeli airstrike on 11 October that killed at least 22 Palestinians and wounded more than 90, Hamas made a statement the following day condemning what it described as the "Nazi occupation’s massacres" in Jabalia under United States protection. Journalists stated they were being directly targeted by the Israeli army, including Fadi Al Wahidi, who was reportedly shot in the neck by a sniper.
On 14 October, Al Jazeera Arabic reported the Israeli military was planting explosives in homes to demolish them. The same day, medics reported that Israeli forces fired on civilians waiting for flour at a food distribution centre, killing ten people and wounding dozens. On 16 October, the Gaza Civil Defense stated there were dozens of people trapped under the rubble, and some bodies were laying in the road unable to be rescued. Gaza's civil defence agency spokesman stated, "There are a number of pleas from families being bombed inside Jabalia camp... but it is difficult for our teams to reach the bombed sites". As a result, northern Gaza's head of emergency services stated, stray dogs were eating bodies in the street.
On 18 October, video from the Jabalia camp showed a double tap strike in which a 13-year-old boy was hit by an airstrike, and after a crowd gathered to help him, a second bomb fell, killing the thirteen-year-old and another boy and wounding 20 others. Al Jazeera Arabic reported a home had been demolished while a family was still inside it. Jabalia experienced a communications blackout, which disrupted rescue operations. The blackout was reportedly caused by damage to key infrastructure in Jabalia, including communication towers. Attack drones and ongoing bombings also prevented the civil defense from rescuing residents trapped under rubble. On 19 October 33 people were killed and more wounded by an Israeli airstrike on several houses near the Nassar junction. The entirety of the historic Block 2 area was reportedly destroyed by Israel, including homes and infrastructure. According to one woman, "The Israelis started shelling us with artillery, their drone and warplanes fired missiles, too. Then, they stormed the area with their tanks and opened fire randomly." At least 87 people were killed by an airstrike in Beit Lahia.