Hunger and thirst besiege half a million Palestinians in northern Gaza

Abdullah Abu Deif (Gaza, Cairo)

The humanitarian situation has seriously worsened in the northern Gaza Strip, which is inhabited by about half a million Palestinians, in light of the acute shortage of food, medicine, and medical supplies. Famine now threatens the residents of the Strip, with the Israeli army continuing to prevent the flow of supplies of food, baby formula, medicine, and water to the northern Strip since the beginning of the war. The war on Gaza.
Palestinian human rights organizations documented the spread of famine and drought in Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and western Gaza City, after 90% of the homes and facilities in those areas were destroyed, in addition to the destruction of the headquarters of the United Nations and international organizations, which have been no longer working for several months in the northern Gaza Strip. .
Hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, whose health system has completely collapsed over the past days and weeks, confirmed the lack of medicine and fuel to operate their departments, and that they received more than 80 victims, who were recovered from under the rubble and from the alleys of the Jabalia camp, and were killed during the invasion of the camp over the course of three weeks.
Adnan Abu Hasna, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, “UNRWA,” said that the situation in the Gaza Strip has become more dangerous after the closure of the main crossings, whether the Kerem Shalom crossing or the Rafah crossing, which Israel announced control over.
Abu Hasna said, in exclusive statements to Al-Ittihad, that fuel has not entered the Gaza Strip for days through any of the crossings, which threatens all relief operations in all regions, and increases the difficulty of the work of relief and international institutions due to the military operations that led to the shipments not entering. Relief.
Abu Hasna pointed out that UNRWA is striving to continue providing services from the city of Rafah as much as possible, but the challenges are increasing day after day, expressing his fear of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in general in the Gaza Strip.
The UNRWA spokesman called for concerted humanitarian and international efforts to alleviate the suffering of the population and provide the necessary support to those in need, calling on the international community to move quickly to help the population overcome this crisis and provide the support they urgently need.
The spokesman for the UN agency revealed that UN and international institutions are facing enormous pressure in providing services, and that securing supplies constitutes a major challenge, especially with the increasing demand and needs for resources that were already scarce.
In addition, Palestinian medical sources said yesterday that a 13-year-old child died in Deir al-Balah Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, due to hunger. The Palestinian News Agency quoted sources as saying that the health situation in the Gaza Strip is going from bad to worse, with the expansion of military operations in the city of Rafah towards the west, and all of its hospitals being out of service.
The sources indicated that the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration had risen to 37 in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the announced toll reflects what reached hospitals only, and that dozens were dying silently, as a result of famine, without being able to reach hospitals. According to the agency, “The occupation has continued to close the Rafah crossing for 26 days, amid warnings of a deteriorating humanitarian situation, due to the cessation of life-saving supplies to civilians in various parts, especially in the areas of the northern Gaza Strip, which face the threat of real famine.”