AEurope-based human rights monitor said Israel is starving Palestinians as a means of war to push them out of Gaza or even kill them, as Palestinians are also left with no access to clean water amid Israel’s blockade and incessant attacks, which have destroyed civilian infrastructure in the blockaded enclave.
A Palestinian man carries a bag of flour from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint, as Gaza residents
face crisis levels of hunger, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City Jan. 27, 2024. (Reuters Photo)
The chairperson of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor Ramy Abdu told Anadolu Agency (AA) about the famine in Gaza, which is under relentless Israeli attacks and blockade, and the difficult conditions faced by Gazans.
He said that people could not cook due to the large-scale food shortage in the Gaza Strip, noting that while an average of 500 truckloads of aid entered the region daily before the start of the ongoing Israeli war, this number is currently at 100 trucks or less.
Abdu said: “We can speak about maybe 50 to 100 trucks that arrived in northern Gaza during the last 100 days at least and a severe hunger in this area (northern Gaza).”
He said there is “severe hunger” and a “shortage in everything” in the region. “The people are starving, really starving in this area.”
“More than half a million Palestinians here are suffering very harsh conditions of winter, and a very harsh condition of the shortage of food supplies,” Abdu added.
Recalling the statement of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that aid organizations cannot supply food to the whole of Gaza, he stressed that they have confirmed that there are no aid organizations in northern Gaza.
Children ‘most-affected’ group
Abdu said that more than half of Gaza residents are facing “critical levels of hunger.”
“All of North area residents are suffering from severe and harsh conditions of famine,” he said, adding: “In general, we are talking about more than 75% of Palestinians in Gaza who are suffering from severe levels of hunger.”
“There is no increase in the food supplies and the trucks that are allowed to get into Gaza,” he stated.
Abdu said that Israeli soldiers opened fire on those trying to reach food trucks that entered from the south to northern Gaza in small numbers, adding that they had documented that dozens of people lost their lives because of this.
“We are talking about ‘intentional starvation’, particularly in the north area,” he warned.
Children are the “most affected” population by this condition “because they don’t have the needed food,” said the head of the rights monitor.
He said: “Most of the infants need milk. There is no milk getting inside Gaza, there is no medicine, there are no medical supplies at all, and even the nutrition supplies.”
“Women can barely cope with this situation,” he said, adding that they don’t eat themselves and give the food to their children.
‘Genocide’
Abdu stressed that Israel has committed “genocide” in the Strip.
“Israel is using starvation as a means of war to expel Gazans out of Gaza and even to kill them,” he warned.
“The other element is the mass killing and we see now the human cost,” the official emphasized. “This is the highest human cost ever in any war.”
“We are talking about 4.5% of Gaza people either were killed or injured or lost,” he stated.
“The third element is the explosions and displacing the people of Gaza,” Abdu said.
Abdu expressed hope that last week’s International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision “will deter the Israeli plans to expel the people but unfortunately during the last 72 hours, we followed up the situation on the ground closely and we found that Israel keeps the same level of killing.”
Stressing that Israel also continues to destroy dozens of residential areas, Abdu said, adding that the country even minimizes the entry of food trucks into Gaza and continues to systematically massacre people by moving them away from the north of Gaza.
The official further underscored that the U.N. and international organizations should not comply with Israel’s directives and put pressure on Tel Aviv.
He called on the international community to act together, pointing out the importance of speaking with “one voice” so that they can create real pressure on the Israeli side.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, leaving until Tuesday 26,751 dead and 65,636 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian authorities.
Gazans forced to drink dirty water as Israel’s onslaught continues
Palestinians from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip queue by a water tanker, plastic containers in hand.
For many of them, the wait will be futile.
The water tanker has limited capacity and cannot provide water for the hundreds of Palestinians who spend long hours waiting every day.
Palestinian children wait to collect drinking water amid shortages, at a tent camp sheltering people who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip Jan. 28, 2024. (Reuters Photo)
The Gaza Strip suffers from a severe water crisis due to the destruction of infrastructure in the ongoing war.
The situation is particularly dire in the northern governorates of the enclave.
Following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel has cut off water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel supplies for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Desalination facilities and sewage networks in Gaza have been disrupted due to fuel and electricity shortages since mid-October last year, according to the Palestinian Water Authority.
The U.N. has repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases due to the water crisis, coupled with a lack of hygiene supplies.
Christian Lindmeier, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told AA: “People in Gaza are living a catastrophe, exposed to death from hunger, malnutrition, thirst, or from bullets, injuries, and buildings collapsing over their heads.”
Polluted Water
At another area of the camp, Palestinians crowd around one of the water lines destroyed by the Israeli army, trying to fill directly from there.
Karam Abu Nada, a Palestinian in his 30s waiting his turn to fill water from the destroyed line, says that camp residents “gather to get water despite its contamination.”
He told AA that they usually use polluted water for washing, cleaning, and cooking.
Sometimes they wait up to 10 days to procure this water, he said.
Gazans are forced to ration water consumption as it is only available every few days. They minimize the amounts used for bathing, washing dishes, and cleaning.
Abu Nada says polluted water is affecting them, especially children, causing intestinal and skin diseases amid a lack of medicines to treat them.
Widespread disease
Raed Radwan, a 50-year-old Palestinian from Gaza City, says his family has been facing a continuous water crisis.
“We obtain water by filling a few plastic gallons from one of the clubs in the area where we reside, which pumps water from a private well once every 3-4 days due to a shortage of fuel,” he said.
He said the quantity they receive is not enough to meet his family’s needs even for a single day, forcing them to reduce their consumption.
“Before the war, this water was used only for washing dishes and cleaning, but today we use it for drinking, which has caused us several diseases ranging from gastrointestinal infections to kidney diseases and dehydration,” he said.
He condemned the world’s silence over what the Palestinians are facing.
Yusuf Hamad, 25, who fled from northeastern Beit Hanoun town to one of the shelter centers in Jabalia, said that thousands of displaced people are suffering from health conditions due to water scarcity.
He told Anadolu: “We have been suffering from a severe water crisis for more than three months, as we receive small portions every few days due to the shortage of fuel.”
He said the lack of water has led to the majority of displaced people, especially children, contracting gastrointestinal and skin diseases due to a lack of hygiene.
Local and international health institutions have repeatedly warned of the spread of diseases and epidemics among the displaced due to the lack of water necessary for their protection from diseases.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli army has been waging a destructive war on Gaza, leaving 26,637 killed and 65,387 wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian authorities.
Palestinian children wait to collect drinking water amid shortages, at a tent camp sheltering people who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip Jan. 28, 2024. (Reuters Photo)