Israeli military retreats from northern Gaza, leaving dozens of Palestinians killed and razing neighborhoods to the ground

At least 50 Palestinians were found killed on Friday, local authorities said, after the Israeli military pulled back from several areas in central and northern Gaza, leaving entire neighborhoods razed and residents reeling from a spate of heavy attacks.

Emergency crews recovered 50 to 60 bodies in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the west of Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense. Many more were trapped under the debris, spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told CNN. Further east in the city, Israeli bombardment destroyed vital infrastructure in the Shujaya neighborhood, said Asem Al-Nabih, a media officer at the Gaza Municipality.

Footage obtained by CNN showed rescue staff in Tal al-Hawa wading through blown out buildings, and clambering over slabs of fallen concrete piled on top of old mattresses. The limbs of dead Palestinians could be seen peeking out from under the rubble, as workers attempted to retrieve those buried by the devastation.

“There is unprecedented destruction of infrastructure and vital facilities in the Shujaya… and Tal al-Hawa areas,” Al-Nabih told CNN. “The municipality is trying to deliver water to displaced citizens with great difficulty.”

More than nine months of fighting in Gaza has turned swathes of the territory into rubble-filled wasteland. The Israeli military offensive following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has triggered a sprawling humanitarian crisis, crushed the health system and depleted food and water supplies. The UN warned Tuesday of widespread famine across the strip, and relief workers say Israeli aid restrictions mean they are unable to support Palestinians trying to survive the war. Human rights agencies reiterated calls for a ceasefire, as negotiations between Israel and Hamas this week hit yet another roadblock.

Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.

Israeli strikes in Gaza have since killed 38,345 Palestinians and injured another 88,295 people, according to the Ministry of Health there.

‘We want a total ceasefire’

Palestinian residents surveyed the desolate landscape in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood on Friday, as the sound of Israeli drones buzzed overhead.

CNN footage from the aftermath showed multiple-story blocks sliced in half. Children sat under the sun with despondent expressions on their faces. In one scene, the words “Gaza, I promise we will rebuild it,” could be seen scrawled onto the wall of a damaged building.

“I don’t know what crime civilians did to deserve this,” one resident, Tareq Ghanem, told CNN on Friday. “People are dying in the streets. The bodies are strewn in the streets for 4 to 5 (days), maybe a week, and no civil defense can evacuate them. Where is the international law?”

Another Palestinian, Umm Ihab Arafat, said she and her family had been displaced at least four times since the war erupted. The mother told CNN she was desperate to return home for the wellbeing of her children.

“We want a total ceasefire,” she said. “We don’t want to be displaced from one place to another. The fear is in the eyes of the young ones.”

A CNN stringer in the area reported Friday there had been a partial withdrawal from several locations – including Tal Al-Hawa, Al-Rimal and the vicinity of the UNRWA headquarters on Al-Sina’a Street. Further south, in the coastal tent city of Al-Mawasi, two people were killed and five other Palestinians wounded by an airstrike on an aid warehouse, according to the Civil Defense. CNN has provided the Israeli military with the coordinates of the strike and sought comment.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed troops in central Gaza “located a weapons production workshop” and “funds used for terrorist activity,” adding that “terrorists who posed a threat to the troops in the area were eliminated.” The IDF also said that it had attacked the site of rocket launches in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, and had continued assaults in Rafah, southern Gaza. CNN cannot verify the IDF statements.

Also in central Gaza, a CNN stringer reported that four Palestinians, including two children, had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in the New Nuseirat camp early Friday. CNN has asked the IDF about its operations in central Gaza.

Almost the whole population – 1.9 million people – have been displaced, according to the UN. Earlier this week, several Palestinians told CNN they were terrified to leave areas in the north under Israeli evacuation orders amid heavy shelling, citing no promise of safety or accommodation.

The UN warned that Israeli evacuation orders for people to leave Gaza City on Wednesday “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families,” adding that many have already been displaced multiple times.

Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting.

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