More than 1,800 people have died in the Gaza Strip in just eight days, as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.
UN condemns Israeli actions and Gaza crisis
Ramallah.- Several United Nations agencies condemned the Israeli bombings over the Gaza Strip, the total blockade imposed on the territory, attacks on civilians, and the deportation orders.
The UN office based in Palestine called on Israel not to implement its order displacement for 1.1 million people from the north of the coastal enclave ahead of an imminent ground offensive.
“Palestinian civilians including women and children are terrified, injured, and traumatized. This will bring about a humanitarian tragedy that can and must be avoided,” the UN office said in a statement while recalling that over 1,800 citizens were killed in the last eight days by Israeli air strikes.
Massive displacement puts the lives of the sick and wounded in immediate danger and could provoke a public health disaster, at a time when the health system in Gaza is on the verge of collapse.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spoke in similar terms.
“Most people do not have access to safe drinking water after the supply stoppage (…) As a last resort, people are drinking brackish water from agricultural wells, raising serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases,” it warned.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) noted that hundreds of thousands of children and their families fled northern Gaza ahead of imminent larger-scale attacks.
We call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent a major ground assault on one of the most densely populated places on the planet, UNICEF stated.
“Children and families in Gaza have been left with virtually no food, water, electricity, medicine, and safe access to hospitals after days of hostilities and cuts to all supply routes,” UNICEF added.
Homes and critical infrastructure are in ruins, and more than 423,000 people fled their homes.
The UN Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East also criticized the Israeli attacks and the total blockade against civilians.
“The call by Israeli forces to relocate over one million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and push the people of Gaza further into the abyss,” the Agency added.
The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is chilling, Gaza is fast becoming an inferno and is on the brink of collapse.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza was dire before these hostilities and has now seriously worsened, UN Women said.
Christian leaders call on Israel to allow humanitarian aid to Gaza
Patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem issued a statement calling on Israel to allow food and medical supplies to enter the Gaza Strip, closed by a total blockade imposed by Israel, where a grave humanitarian crisis has befallen all of us.
In their joint statement, the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant church leaders also called for stemming the violence that has erupted since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel last weekend, which took the lives of 1,300 Israelis. About 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict over the past week.
The statement followed Israel’s call for the 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to flee toward the southern part of the territory. The 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, has been enclosed in an Israeli land, sea, and air blockade since 2007 and has a closed border with Egypt.
The Christian leaders also criticized the cutting off of electricity, water, fuel, food, and medicine supplies to the area.
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila warned on Thursday of imminent health collapse in the Gaza Strip as a result of a severe shortage of medicines, supplies, and blood bags due to the Israeli blockade.
The large number of wounded exceeds the capacity of hospitals in the coastal enclave, Al-Kaila warned.
Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that due to the lack of electricity, following the Israeli blockade, hospitals run the risk of becoming morgues.
“The human misery caused by this escalation is abominable and I implore the parties involved to reduce the suffering of civilians,” Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC’s Regional Director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement.
Healthcare workers refuse to leave north Gaza despite Israel's threat
Doctors and nurses at Al Awda Hospital, located in the northern Gaza Strip, refused to comply with the evacuation and deportation order from Israel, which has been bombing the coastal territory for eight days.
The medical staff of the center, located in the city of Jabalia and made up of 35 healthcare workers, is currently facing catastrophic conditions due to the rapid increase in the number of deaths and injuries, warned its Director Ahmed Muhanna.
Muhanna reiterated healthcare workers´ determination to stay and provide patients with medical services.
The Israeli army on Friday threatened to bomb the hospital and gave a 24-hour deadline to evacuate it, the source said.
On Friday, Israel ordered the displacement of 1.1 million Palestinians from north Gaza on the grounds of an imminent offensive.
The Palestinian government, NGOs, and various UN agencies condemned the serious humanitarian situation in Gaza due to the attacks and the total blockade imposed by Israel, which prevents the entry of fuel, water, electricity, food, and medicines.
Abdullah Al-Qishawi, head of the renal diseases department at Al-Shifa Hospital, warned a few hours ago that some 1,200 patients with renal deficiencies in the Gaza Strip are at risk of dying due to the lack of medicines and electricity.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila warned on Thursday of the imminent collapse of the sector in the Gaza Strip as a result of severe shortages of vital commodities.
Humanitarians call for urgent aid access to Gaza
United Nations.- No aid can come in from the outside for the 2.3 million residents of the sealed-off enclave, and some 220,000 displaced people are sheltering in schools run by the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), as stated by Palestine Ambassador Riyad Mansour after a meeting with UN Secretary-General (UNSG) António Guterres.
The diplomat warned of a war scenario on the ground by urging the UN Security Council (UNSC) to analyze this case as a top priority.
This is an attack on more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip; therefore, it is a matter for UNSC, Mansour insisted.
Brazilian Ambassador to UN Mauro Vieira, on the other hand, stated that the UNSC has a crucial responsibility in this conflict.
“Brazil believes that the UNSC must act ahead of a nearly unprecedented escalation of violence and an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe,” Vieira added on behalf of his nation.
The responsibility encompasses both the immediate response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis and at later stages when intensified multilateral efforts will be needed to restore a peace process, Vieira stressed.
“Neither Israelis nor Palestinians should have to endure similar suffering ever again,” Vieira added.
Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, on the other hand, called Israel’s attacks unacceptable.
“Israel’s collective punishment actions towards Palestinians in Gaza as well as its demands to evacuate more than one million civilians in 24 hours and concentrate them to the south are also unacceptable and may have irreversible catastrophic consequences, regionally and globally,” Nebenzya said.
Over 423,000 Palestinians fled their homes in the overpopulated region after seven days of bombardment, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but the figure could be higher in the complex scenario.
Syria says Israel is major cause of current escalated situation
Damascus.- Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mekdad on Saturday claimed that Israel is the main responsible for the dangerous escalation in the region.
Crimes, aggressive and repressive actions for decades with the full support of the United States and the West are major causes of the current violent situation, said the Syrian Foreign Minister at a press briefing with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
Al-Mekdad explained that since the beginning of 2023, even before the present escalation in north Gaza, Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinians, most of them children and women, and destroyed their homes."There are no people in the world who have suffered and endured more than the Palestinian people. So what do they expect from these people?"
Al-Mekdad also stated that ahead of the Palestinians’ struggle for their historical and inalienable rights recognized by all the peoples of the world, the United States and European countries sent their fleets and provided mass destruction weapons to Israel to kill Palestinian children.
According to Al-Mekdad, international humanitarian law received a heavy blow and the greatest insult with the current incessant aggression against the Gaza Strip.
We repeat it loudly: we will always support the Palestinian people and their struggle for establishing a Palestinian state recognized by the international community, the minister added.
With information by Prensa Latina
