Gaza has been under a full blockade since 2007 and is currently experiencing an acute humanitarian disaster. They say recent Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling killed at least 82, according to the Gaza health ministry and hospital officials. Among the dead are six sisters and a one-week-old baby. The bear gets mad. That tinderbox scenario is made exponentially worse as Israel’s offensive continues to destroy civilian life throughout Gaza. The health ministry claims that over 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been tragically killed since the invasion started.
The news has only gotten more dire in recent weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that the Israeli military will have complete control of the Gaza Strip by the end of this latest escalation in violence. The current war erupted after Hamas carried out a horrific assault on southern Israel. This horrendous attack led to the deaths of nearly 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and the kidnapping of 251 people.
With violence increasing, Gaza’s 2.3 million people are very close to experiencing famine. An 11-week blockade has severely limited their ability to procure food and other vital resources. Hundreds of thousands of residents depend on temporary free bakeries and community kitchens for survival. Abdel-Nasser al-Ajramy, the president of Gaza’s bakery owners’ association, talked about a dire scenario. He said that at least 25 bakeries had been promised flour from the World Food Programme, but received none, leaving people in desperate situations hungry and waiting for food.
The humanitarian situation in Khan Younis is catastrophic. These reports have since emerged that 24 people were killed, 14 of them from a single family. The mounting death toll and ongoing destruction have drawn fierce condemnation from nations that have typically refrained from openly criticizing Israel’s actions.
All attempts to welcome, shelter and deliver humanitarian aid have faced incredible logistic hurdles. Netanyahu’s hardline government had only agreed to partially and slowly lift the blockade as of Monday. Less than 100 aid trucks have been allowed to pass into Gaza since. Humanitarian workers report that while the Israeli military announced the allowance of dozens of humanitarian trucks into Gaza on Tuesday, the aid has yet to reach those in desperate need.
Complex logistics, ongoing fighting, and an Israeli requirement to reload cargoes onto new trucks after entering Gaza have all hindered the distribution of aid. The lack of available fuel, along with the crumbling infrastructure of road networks, adds to the challenges faced by deliverers of life-saving assistance.
“We must avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action.” – Benjamin Netanyahu
Ongoing indirect ceasefire discussions in Doha have completely broken down. Qatari leaders underscored a yawning chasm between the two sides, indicating that reconciliation appears wholly unbridgeable at this time. Cynthia Rothschild Militants in Gaza are still holding 58 captives. Only about a third of these people are thought to still be living, since the majority were released during ceasefire deals or other negotiations.
The ground situation in Gaza remains extremely complicated as humanitarian organizations continue to face a rapidly evolving situation on the ground. That has only deepened misery for countless families caught in the devastation of the ongoing offensive as they are left waiting without help.