90% of residents Gaza had to leave its homes to search refuge from the bombings and ground attacks of Israel. These refugees are now filling centres in already densely populated cities specified as Rafah. Humanitarian agencies inform that the spread of illness and the threat of starvation in the enclave blocked will only intensify.
2 January, week after planet Food Programme (WFP) publication warnings, that “half of the people of the Gaza Strip are starving”, the UN chief economist said that little than 3 months after Israel's relentless attack began, this area meets at least 1 of the criteria of famine.
By Common In the fresh York Times, Arif Husain's about 20% of Gaza's population faces "extreme food shortage".
"I've seen almost all conflict, whether in Yemen or South Sudan, northeastern Nigeria, Ethiopia and so on. But I have never seen anything like it, both in terms of scale and strength and the pace at which it is going," said Husain to journalists.
Giving up meals, especially by caring for adults, is already a norm in Gaza, as WFP informs on social media.
Fact check: Everyone in #Gaza Is hungry! Skipping meals is the norm, and each day is simply a desperate search for surprise.
People frequently go the entry day and night without eating. Adults go hungry so children can eat.
Read More https://t.co/8IEDge22Whpic.twitter.com/W1CHYAnIzK
— WFP Media (@WFP_Media) January 2, 2024
Among those suffering from the consequences of the conflict are besides experts on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, who mastered the enclave long before Israel began bombing in retaliation for the Hamas attacks of October 7. According to the fresh York Times, analyst of the global Crisis Group (ICG), Azmi Keshawi is 1 of the thousands of people who had to leave their home, and now they go out all day to search for food to feed the family.
“The search for food is our regular nightmare,” Keshawi says, who together with his household in a shelter on the street in Rafah. ‘No flour. There's no yeast for baking bread. There is no way to find any food – tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, eggplant, citrus or orange juice.”
In December, Human Rights Watch organization statedthat Israel uses famine as a method of combat, which constitutes a war crime in accordance with the Statute of the Roman global Criminal Court.
Lack of food threatens the wellness and safety of residents, many of whom have no roof over their heads and are catwalking outside, without adequate clothing or blankets that could defend them from the coming cold winter weather.
In addition to the expanding hunger crisis, the UN monitors the spread of infectious diseases and the expanding inability of medical workers to supply care due to Israeli blockade and the ban on the admission of essential assistance.
Since mid-October, planet wellness Organization (WHO) noted 179,000 cases of acute respiratory tract infections; over 136 000 cases of diarrhoea in children under the age of 5 – which is the second most common origin of death for young children worldwide – as well as over 55,000 cases of sniveling.
The organisation is alerting that there is simply a "direct threat" in the Gaza Strip to the outbreaks of subsequent diseases. utmost overcrowding of cities and centres where refugees are on average available contributes to the fast spread of diseases one toilet for 700 people, .
"Today in Gaza, it is easy to die of spreading diseases," says Tamara Alrifai, manager of External Relations at the United Nations Agency for the Relief of Palestinian Refugees in the mediate East (UNRWA), in an interview with the British Channel Channel 4 last week. "Rafah was inhabited by about 280,000 people, and in the last fewer weeks an additional million people appeared here. This explains the dramatic overcrowded exile centres and surrounding areas."
"Gazans can die very easy now due to the diseases spreading"@TamaraAlrifai tells @Channel4News that illness is spreading among the overcrowded shelters and packed streets of Rafah in southern#Gaza, 1 of the most crowded places on the planets. pic.twitter.com/0TbhZhCslJ
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 2, 2024
Dr. Guillemette Thomas, Medical Coordinator of Doctors Without Borders, in an interview with the fresh York Times She saidthat Israel passes 120 trucks per day with humanitarian aid to Gaza. For many weeks there was no help, and absolutely needed fuel It did not scope Gaza until late November. Prior to the bombings and the blockade of many people in the Gaza Strip, the aid was provided regular by 500 trucks.
Despite the message of Israel's Minister of Defence Yoava Gallant on October 9, in which He gave the order ‘total siege of Gaza’ and the cut-off of supply of ‘power, food and fuel’, and the people of Gaza called ‘human animals’, Israel continues to say that it does not block aid and that civilians are not military targets. The Israeli government maintains that Hamas is the 1 who is turning back the trucks with aid – UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini called this accusation “unwarrant”.
Since the start of the Israeli bombings in Gaza, at least 22 185 peopleat least 57,000 were injured. In addition, 7,000 people are considered missing or under the rubble.
Last week UNRWA published a video on social media in which desperate people effort to get into a convoy with humanitarian aid in Gaza City.
#Gaza is just weeks distant from #Famine
People are desperate and hungry
To prevent family, more, much more food + another basics must be allowed in safe access, and humanitarian #Ceasefire_In_Gaza_ so we can deliver aid
Thx @cnni for the video https://t.co/gdG1hsxIdS
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 30, 2023
"In a fewer weeks, the Gaza Strip will turn into an area suffering from famine", the Agency informs. "People are hungry and desperate. In order to avoid starvation, much more food and another basic necessities should be allowed in it."
The group besides reiterated its call for humanitarian cessation of war activities to enable the transportation of assistance and to defend the civilian population.
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Julia Conley is editor of Common Dreams magazine.
Article published in stock Common Dreams under Creative Commons. She translated Anna Opara from English.
