No fuel, no food, no water
That is the situation that more than 2 million people in the Gaza Strip are facing these days in the context of the Israel-Hamas conflict that has been escalating since October 7. “ Now we have to fill cans with salt water, I am ready to drink salt water. How can we do that!” - shared Mr. Mohammad Jamal Saqr, a resident in the southern Gaza Strip.
Juliette Touma, from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), expressed her frustration about the dire situation in Gaza: “ Nothing has been delivered to Gaza since October 7. There is no fuel, no food, no water, no other assistance. We are talking about 2 million people in the Gaza Strip without water. Water is life and life is running out in the Gaza Strip. We also know that people are using dirty water sources, including wells. We are very concerned about infectious diseases that can be spread through water.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on October 16 that water, electricity and fuel in the Gaza Strip are only enough for 24 hours.
Displaced Palestinians gather at the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) school in Khan Yunis, October 15. Photo: Getty Images
Aid convoys stuck at the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt must be allowed into the Gaza Strip, or doctors will be unable to treat patients, according to the WHO. Without electricity, water, and a lack of medicine and oxygen, many hospitals in the area are “unable to receive” patients.
Fabrizio Carboni, regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), warned that “without electricity, hospitals in Gaza will turn into morgues.” The WHO on October 14 also strongly condemned the request to evacuate 22 hospitals that are treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza, saying it would worsen the current humanitarian and public health disaster. WHO said all face deteriorating health conditions or death if forced to evacuate.
“A matter of survival”
Faced with the dire situation unfolding in Gaza, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said the depleted water supply – as Israel cut off all utilities to Gaza – had become “a matter of survival”. On October 13, the Palestinian Authority warned that if the situation did not improve quickly, the humanitarian consequences in the Gaza Strip would be beyond the imagination of many.
People line up to buy food in the southern Gaza Strip, October 15, 2023. Photo: THX/TTXVN
However, UN aid operations in the Palestinian Gaza Strip have been virtually halted amid Israeli airstrikes. Al Arabiya TV reported on October 16 that at least 100 trucks carrying aid were at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, awaiting the establishment of a humanitarian corridor. The situation became more tense when Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on October 12 that his country would not allow humanitarian aid - including food, water, fuel and medicine - into Gaza unless Hamas released some 200 Israeli hostages.
In response to the desperate cries for help and the suffering of the people of Gaza, many world leaders are promoting humanitarian aid efforts for the people of this region. On October 15, Pope Francis called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors for civilians in the Gaza Strip affected by the conflict between Hamas and Israel, and reiterated his call for Hamas to release hostages.
Earlier, speaking at a press conference in Geneva (Switzerland) on October 10, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic stated that WHO called for an end to violence and emphasized the importance of establishing a humanitarian corridor to help people in the Gaza Strip access essential medical care.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, which denies people access to basic necessities, is prohibited under international law and that any restrictions on the movement of people and goods in the implementation of the blockade must have a legitimate military reason or face collective punishment.
Palestinians wait to receive food in the Gaza Strip, October 15, 2023. Photo: THX/TTXVN
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on October 16 that he would travel to the Middle East to support talks on the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip. The European Commission (EC) has also decided to triple humanitarian aid for civilians in the Gaza Strip to 75 million euros. Ursula von der Leyern, President of the European Commission (EC), said that an EU humanitarian air bridge to the Gaza Strip via Egypt is being deployed.
On the evening of October 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, called on Israel to stop civilian casualties, allow emergency humanitarian corridors to the Gaza Strip, and provide medical supplies, water, electricity, and fuel to the people of the Gaza Strip. He stressed that Hamas' policies and actions do not represent the Palestinian people, and that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the only legitimate representative.
As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, the Gaza Strip and the Middle East region are “on the brink of the abyss”. And in the context of increasing human casualties and humanitarian disasters, a solution to the conflict based on UN principles, calling for an end to war and violence as well as opening humanitarian corridors for the people of Gaza is what the international community needs to realize right now.
| Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, warning of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. She said the situation in the region had “reached a tipping point”. |
Nguyen Ha
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