The number of cases of chickenpox, scabies and diarrhea, caused by poor sanitary conditions and consumption of water from unsanitary sources, is increasing. 42% of residential buildings in Gaza are affected by shelling. In addition, there are 1.4 million internally displaced persons.
The Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip that began two weeks ago is affecting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians at all levels of their lives, almost all of them civilians, including thousands of children, who have nothing to do with armies, armed groups or militias.
As in any war, it is also in Palestine, both in Gaza and the West Bank civilian population the one who suffers most directly and in the harshest way from the consequences of the war looming over their heads.
The worst consequences and the most irreversible are undoubtedly the consequences dead of more than 4,385 people in Gaza (of which 1,756 children) and 84 in the West Bank since October 7 last year. Deaths adding to the long list of fatalities (11,652 people, according to Israeli NGO B’Tselem) in Palestine since the first intifada in 1988. During the same period, 1,766 Israeli civilians have lost their lives, not including 1,400 people. have been killed by attacks by Palestinian militias since October 7.
Furthermore, the injured In recent days, there have been thousands, 13,561 in Gaza and 1,653 in the West Bank, according to this Sunday’s report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Injured people are packed together hospitals, who barely survive, without electricity, without water, with hardly any medicine and under the constant threat of Israeli attacks. The World Health Organization (WHO) denounces for the time being 62 attacks on healthcare institutions, including last Tuesday’s at Ahli Arab Hospital, bringing to seven the number of hospitals that have had to suspend operations (up from four at the beginning of the week). Several doctors and health workers were killed in the attacks.
According to the report, the Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of the 17 hospitals still operating in Gaza City (capital of the strip of the same name), as well as one in Rafah, but they did not comply with this order as this could endangering the lives of some patients.
Diseases
This situation brings other consequences such as diseases, and health authorities in the Gaza Strip have begun detecting cases of chickenpox, scabies and diarrhea caused by poor sanitary conditions and consumption of water from unsanitary sourcesas warned by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
In its daily report on the situation in Gaza, the United Nations expresses fears that these cases will increase unless electricity returns to the Gaza Strip, which has been completely cut off by Israel for 11 days, or more fuel can get to the power generators.
The report warns that some Palestinians are forced to consume salt water from agricultural wells, which could cause cholera outbreaks and pose health risks, such as a possible increase in high blood pressure, especially in infants and pregnant women, and in humans with kidney problems.
The report highlights the arrival this Saturday of humanitarian aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing, on the border with Egypt, although it warns that the amount of food, medicine and other basic supplies that could be brought into the Palestinian territory is only 4% of the total amount of food, medicine and other basic necessities. what he receives on a normal day.
Forced displacement
The Gaza Strip Ministry of Housing estimates that approximately 164,000 houses in the enclave, a About 42% of the total “residential units” have remained off the territory “partially or completely destroyed” since the beginning of the Israeli bombings on October 7.
Israeli attacks ‘completely demolished’ 5,635 residential buildings, comprising 15,100 ‘housing units’. Another 139,000 housing units have been partially damaged, of which 10,656 have become “uninhabitable”, according to the assessment compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recalls that since the beginning of the Israeli bombing 1.4 million people are capable of internally displaced people in Gaza and that at least 566,000 people are sheltered in areas designated by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
