Gaza is in the abyss of a humanitarian crisis unprecedented in six months of war

The Gaza Strip is sinking into the abyss of its worst humanitarian crisis, with famine already beginning to claim lives and unprecedented levels of destruction, as today marks six months of the deadliest war for the Palestinians, with more than 33,100 dead.

“Over the past six months, the people of Gaza have endured unfathomable suffering. Almost 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes, many of them multiple times,” the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Jamie McGoldrick, said this Saturday.

In addition to causing the largest exodus of Palestinians since the Nakba (1948) (as the Arabs refer to the creation of the State of Israel), the war in Gaza has killed half of its inhabitants, more than a million people, placed in a “threatening situation”. The risk of famine and malnutrition in children has reached levels never seen before.

At least 31 people have died from it malnutrition and dehydration According to the UN, there have been 27 minors (most of them babies) in the north of the enclave since February. More than 677,000 Gazans suffer from “catastrophic” food insecurity and approximately 28,180 children suffer from malnutrition (one in three children under the age of two is acutely malnourished).

14,500 children dead

Since the fighting began on October 7, 33,137 people have been killed, more than 75% of them civilians, including 14,500 children, according to data from the Strip’s Ministry of Health.

More than 75,800 people have been injured and nearly 8,000 bodies are estimated to have been trapped under 26 million tons of rubble in an area with a population of 2.3 million.

According to the UN, the situation is nothing short of catastrophic, McGoldrick said, although he appreciates the measures Israel adopted yesterday to facilitate access to aid supplies and the creation of a “coordination cell” between the military’s Southern Command and humanitarian organizations. to prevent incidents like last Monday, when Israeli forces ‘accidentally’ killed seven employees of the NGO World Central Kitchen.

Of the seven border crossings into the Gaza Strip, Israel has so far allowed only two crossings: Rafah, on the border with Egypt; and Kerem Shalom, between Israel and in an enclave in the south; Therefore, spread north was almost impossible due to the extent of the destruction and the few security guarantees; in addition to the slowness of the inspection process, which Israel has now pledged to speed up by adding 100 more trucks per day.

‘A betrayal of humanity’

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergencies, Martin Griffiths, has condemned the current war as “a betrayal of humanity” during six months “of mourning and torment”.

“For the people of Gaza, the past six months have brought death, destruction and now the immediate prospect of… shameful man-made faminehe claimed.

“No health care system in the world can cope with the volume of injuries, types of wounds and medical conditions we encounter every day in Gaza,” said Dr. Amber Alayyan, MSF deputy director for the Middle East, who launched the “systematic destruction and of the healthcare system” by Israel.

Before the war there were 35 hospitals in the Strip, but “now there are potentially only 10 or 12 semi-functional centers left, but there are so many displaced people seeking refuge there that there isn’t even room for patients.”

Doctors Without Borders, along with other NGOs operating in Gaza such as Doctors of the World, Save the Children, Oxfam, World Vision and Alliance for Solidarity, have demanded a “permanent ceasefire to put an immediate end to the collective punishment that lasted six months.” “.

Conversations

Precisely, the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas has confirmed the dispatch of a delegation to discuss a possible ceasefire agreement with Israel this Sunday in Cairo (Egypt).

Israel and the United States are making a possible ceasefire in the enclave conditional on the mandatory release of hostages by the Palestinian movement and other militias, while Hamas is prioritizing the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a halt to the bombing before accepting a ceasefire. requirements will have to apply indefinitely.