In the besieged Gaza Strip, basic foodstuffs are in short supply and dangerous disease outbreaks are spreading. Israel drastically limits the ability to provide aid.
90 percent residents The people of Gaza have been forced to flee their homes to seek refuge from Israeli bombardment and ground attacks. These refugees are now filling up centers in already densely populated towns like Rafah. Humanitarian agencies warn that the spread of disease and the threat of starvation in the blockaded enclave will only intensify.
On January 2, a week after the World Food Program (WFP) was announced WarningsWith “half of Gaza's population starving,” the UN's chief economist said less than three months after Israel's relentless offensive began, the territory met at least one of the criteria for famine.
The peace process did not fail Hamas. This has been long overdue
According to quoted About 20 percent by Arif Hussain in the New York Times. The people of Gaza are facing “extreme food shortages”.
“I have seen almost every conflict up close – be it in Yemen, South Sudan, Northeast Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc. But I have never seen anything like this, both in terms of scale and intensity and the speed at which it is progressing,” Hussain told reporters.
Skipping meals, especially childcare by adults, is already the norm in Gaza, WFP reported on social media.
Check: All #Gas He is hungry! Skipping meals is the norm and every day is a desperate search.
People often go all day and night without eating. Adults starve so children can eat.
Read more https://t.co/8IEDge22Wh pic.twitter.com/W1CHYAnIzK
— WFP Media (@WFP_Media) January 2, 2024
Among those affected by the conflict are experts on the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which gripped the enclave before Israel launched a bombardment on October 7 in response to Hamas attacks. As the New York Times reports, International Crisis Group (ICG) analyst Azimi Keshav is one of the thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes and now go out every day in search of food to feed their families.
“Looking for food is our daily nightmare,” says Keshav, who is sheltering in a tent on the street in Rafa with his family. “There is no flour. There is no baking yeast. It is impossible to find any food – tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, eggplants, lemons or orange juice.”
In December, Human Rights Watch he saidthat Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare, which constitutes a war crime under the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Food shortages threaten the health and safety of residents, many of whom are homeless and camped outdoors without adequate clothing or blankets to protect them from the cold winter weather.
In addition to the growing hunger crisis, the UN is monitoring the spread of infectious diseases and the growing inability of medical workers to provide care due to the Israeli blockade and ban on essential aid.
Since mid-October, the World Health Organization (WHO) he noted 179 thousand cases of acute respiratory infections; More than 136,000 cases of diarrhea in children under five – the second leading cause of diarrhea in young children worldwide – as well as more than 55,000 cases of scabies.
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The organization warns that there is an “imminent danger” of further spread of the disease in the Gaza Strip. The extreme overcrowding of cities and centers, where refugees have little to hand, contributes to the rapid spread of disease. One toilet per 700 people.
“It's easy to die in Gaza today because of the spread of disease,” said Tamara Alrifai, director of external affairs for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in an interview with Britain's Channel 4. last week. About 280,000 people lived in Rafah. People and a million more have arrived here in the last few weeks. This explains the dramatically overcrowded view of refugee centers and surrounding areas.”
“Due to rampant diseases, the population of Gaza can now die very easily”@TamaraAlrifai tells him @Channel4News that the disease is spreading in overcrowded shelters and congested streets in South Rafa 📍#GasOne of the most populated places on the planet. pic.twitter.com/0TbhZhCslJ
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 2, 2024
Dr. Guillemette Thomas, Doctors Without Borders medical coordinator, in an interview with the New York Times she saidthat Israel allows a maximum of 120 trucks a day with humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. There was no help for many weeks, but it was absolutely necessary fuel He did not reach Gaza until the end of November. Before the bombing and blockade, many Gazans relied on aid delivered by 500 trucks a day.
Despite the statement of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galanti on October 9, in which gave the order Under a “total siege of the Gaza Strip” and cutting off the supply of “electricity, food and fuel” and calling Gaza residents “human animals”, Israel continues to insist that it is not blocking aid and that civilians are not military targets. The Israeli government claims Hamas is diverting aid trucks – a charge UNRWA Commissioner-General Filipe Lazzarini called “baseless”.
At least 10,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli bombardment began. 22185 people, that is, at least 57 thousand were injured. Additionally, 7,000 people are considered missing or under the rubble.
Last week, UNRWA released a video on social media showing desperate people trying to reach a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza.
#Gas It's only been a few weeks #Hunger
People are desperate and hungry
To prevent hunger, more, much more food + other basics must be allowed ➕safe access, ➕humanitarian #ceasefire_in_Gaza_ So we can provide assistance
Thanks @cnni for the video 🙏 https://t.co/gdG1hsxIdS— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 30, 2023
“In a few weeks, the Gaza Strip will turn into a famine-stricken zone,” the agency reports. “People are hungry and desperate. To prevent starvation, much more food and other basic necessities must come in.”
The group also reiterated its call for a humanitarian cessation of hostilities to allow aid to be delivered and civilians to be protected.
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Julia Conley He is the editor of Common Dreams magazine.
An article published in a magazine common dreams Creative Commons license. Translated from English by Anna Opara.
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