Gazan Rescue Service Has Stopped Operating in the North

When an Israeli airstrike hit a home in northern Gaza early Thursday, residents said, there were no paramedics or emergency medical workers around to help pull out people trapped in the rubble.

Instead, Mazen Ahmed said he and other neighbors in Beit Lahia had to dig through the debris by themselves. They found at least one body.

“We went out to try to rescue on our own to the extent of our abilities,” Mr. Ahmed said on Thursday, speaking by voice message from a cemetery where those killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes were being buried. “There were no stretchers, there were no rescuers, there were no emergency responders.”

More than two weeks ago, Gaza’s Civil Defense, the main emergency service in the Palestinian territory, said it was forced to cease rescue operations in the north because of attacks by the Israeli military on its members and destruction of its equipment.

Israel stepped up a military offensive in northern Gaza over the past month and ordered widespread evacuations of the area, saying it was trying to eliminate a regrouped Hamas presence there. Troops, tanks and armed drones have bombarded the area almost daily, sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing and killing hundreds, according to local and Israeli officials.

Civil Defense said Friday that 2,000 people had been killed, though it does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The Israeli military said last week that it had killed 750 armed fighters, and that it does not count civilians. It did not immediately respond to a request for an updated death toll.