As Israel’s War Against Hamas Continues, the Gaza Humanitarian Situation Worsens

Accusations of US collusion with Israel are high, that by giving it the green light it will go on with its military offensive

Israel intensified its air strikes over the Gaza Strip, as air force jets continue to pummel the coastal enclave.

Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war, three weeks after Hamas’ terror incursion into Israel.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said more than 8,000 Palestinians, including 3,342 children, have been killed, with thousands of people injured, adding that hospitals are at the breaking point.

The massive bombardment disrupted communication lines, interrupting phone and internet services late on Friday, largely cutting off the territory’s 2.3 million people from the world.

Partial services were restored early Sunday, according to local telecom companies, internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks and confirmation on the ground.

In a sign of growing chaos and desperation in Gaza, thousands of people broke into aid warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said.

Thomas White, the agency’s director in Gaza, said the break-in was “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down.”

UNRWA provides services to hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza. Its schools across the territory have been transformed into packed shelters housing Palestinians displaced by the conflict.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says Israel has threatened to bomb the al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, saying it “has just received serious threats from the occupation authorities to immediately evacuate al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip, as it is going to be bombarded.”

“Since this morning, there have been raids 50 meters away from the hospital,” the humanitarian group adds.

Spokesperson Nebal Farsakh says that 12,000 people are currently sheltering in the hospital. She says the intensive care unit is predominantly occupied by children injured in the latest airstrikes.

“Most of them are connected to oxygen machines,” she says. “Evacuating them would be killing them.”

The UN World Health Organization Chief said Palestinian Red Crescent report of evacuation threats is “deeply concerning” and healthcare must be protected under international humanitarian law.

Gaza-based political analyst Talal Okel told The Media Line that he thinks Israel is trying to “annihilate” the coastal enclave.

“It’s not enough they imposed a choking siege on Gaza for 17 years, and now they want to finish under false pretext.”

Okel accused the US of collusion with Israel by giving it the green light that it needs to go on with its military offensive.

[President] Biden is responsible for this humanitarian catastrophe, rather than approve of Israel’s bloody attack, he should act more like a peacemaker and stop this …

“[President] Biden is responsible for this humanitarian catastrophe, rather than approve of Israel’s bloody attack, he should act more like a peacemaker and stop this …” says Okel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday warned the situation in Hamas-ruled Gaza is declining rapidly as he repeated desperate appeals for a ceasefire to end the “nightmare” of bloodshed.

“The situation in Gaza is growing more desperate by the hour. I regret that instead of a critically-needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations,” Guterres said on a visit to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

“The number of civilians who have been killed and injured is totally unacceptable.”

The UN’s top diplomat said “the world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes.”

“More than two million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life—food, water, shelter and medical care—while being subjected to relentless bombardment. I urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink,”Guterres added.

Israel also imposed a total blockade on normal food, water, medicine and fuel deliveries into Gaza when war was first declared, with a first convoy of humanitarian aid entering only two weeks later.

Since then, UNRWA says 84 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza but aid agencies say the numbers are far too low. Before the conflict, UN figures showed an average of almost 500 trucks a day entering Gaza.

“Supplies on the market are running out while the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient,” said White.

“The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent,” said the UN official.

Hamas’ Interior Ministry says Gaza is in dire need of fuel to operate hospital generators, water purification plants, bakeries and ambulances, adding that Israel continues to cut off electricity, drinking water, fuel, medicine and food supplies. Israel claims that Hamas has more than a dozen filled fuel tanks it’s using for itself. 

“What Israel is doing is pure revenge. The images out of Gaza will attract more public opinion and force the international community to act responsibly,” Ramallah-based political analyst Nihad Abu Ghosh told The Media Line.

“Israel has complete disrespect and total disregard for the Geneva conventions and all international institutions, it allows itself to target civilians and hospitals,” says Abu Ghosh.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas called for an emergency summit of Arab states on Gaza.

He urged Arab leaders to convene an emergency summit in order to try to stop Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Abbas said at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), held in Ramallah in the West Bank, “I call on Arab leaders to hold an emergency Arab summit so as to stop [Israel’s] brutal aggression against the Palestinians, to [team up] in countering international challenges and to go to great lengths so that our people can stay on their land,” said Abbas, quoted by the Ma’an news agency.

According to Abbas, the Palestinians are currently “going through a war of genocide and mass killings committed by Israel in the face of the world.”

Abu Ghosh said the 88 year-old Abbas is “weak” and has no sway with Arab leaders.

“I don’t think they will meet quickly; they may decide to hold an emergency meeting at the foreign ministry level,” says Abu Ghosh.