2024-02-20 13:09:18
A catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza… Malnutrition and the spread of diseases herald an “explosion” of child deaths
The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic today (Tuesday) in the Gaza Strip, where regarding one and a half million Palestinians are gathering in the city of Rafah, which is threatened by an Israeli attack, while a new impasse looms on the horizon in the UN Security Council amid fading hope of reaching a ceasefire, according to a report by « Agence France-Presse.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), there are regarding one and a half million people in Rafah, whose population has increased six-fold since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. This city is located on the border with Egypt and is subjected to daily strikes by the Israeli army, which said it was preparing to launch a ground attack there.
Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense extinguish a fire in a building following the Israeli bombing east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Rafah as the “last stronghold” of Hamas, and said that he was determined to continue the attack “until complete victory.”
On the night of Monday-Tuesday, the Israeli bombing focused on the eastern Gaza Strip and the city of Khan Yunis, according to a journalist at Agence France-Presse.
After nearly twenty weeks of war, humanitarian organizations’ reports on the situation in the Gaza Strip have become increasingly concerning.
9 out of 10 children have diseases
On Monday, the United Nations warned that alarming food shortages, widespread malnutrition, and the rapid spread of diseases are factors that might lead to an “explosion” in the number of child deaths in the Gaza Strip.
UN agencies said that food and clean water had become “very scarce” in the besieged Palestinian enclave, and that almost all young children were suffering from infectious diseases.
Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of UNICEF, said that Gaza is regarding to witness “an explosion in preventable child deaths, which might double the already unbearable level of child mortality.”
A wounded Palestinian girl receives assistance following the Israeli bombing in the Deir al-Balah area (Reuters)
At least 90 percent of children under the age of five in Gaza are affected by one or more infectious diseases, according to a report issued by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme.
A displaced woman in a camp in northern Gaza told Agence France-Presse that her children were “dying from hunger and waking up crying,” wondering where she might get food for them.
For his part, Ayman Abu Shamala, who was injured during a bombing on a building in Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip, said: “Rockets are falling on us, so how long can a person bear them?” He added: “People in the north are dying of hunger, and here we are dying because of the bombing.”
A child carries the food she received in a Rafah school amid the famine that the people of Rafah are experiencing (AFP)
The fuse of war was ignited by an unprecedented attack on southern Israel launched by Hamas on October 7, and at the end of November, following a week-long truce, 105 hostages were released in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinian detainees from Israeli prisons. Israel estimates that 130 hostages are still being held in the Strip, 30 of whom are believed to have died.
In response to the attack, Israel pledged to eliminate Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. In addition to the deaths and injuries, most of whom were civilians and the majority of whom were women and children, the Israeli attack left massive destruction and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
The death toll from the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip has risen to 29,092 dead since October 7, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet, warned Sunday that “the world must know and the leaders of Hamas must know that if the hostages do not return to their homes by Ramadan, the fighting will continue everywhere, including in… Rafah area. We will do this in a coordinated way to facilitate the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with American and Egyptian partners and reduce civilian casualties as much as possible.”
“Hamas has a choice,” Gantz said. They can surrender, free the hostages, and civilians in Gaza will be able to celebrate Ramadan,” which is expected to fall around March 10.
Obstruction at the United Nations looms
The possibility of an attack on Rafah is of concern to the international community. On Monday, 26 out of 27 European Union member states called for an “immediate humanitarian truce” in Gaza, demanding that Israel refrain from any military action in Rafah. But hopes for a truce are dwindling.
The UN Security Council must decide on Tuesday on a new text that Algeria prepared weeks ago demanding an “immediate” ceasefire. But this draft resolution is threatened by a new veto from the United States, Israel’s ally, which will be its third since the beginning of the war.
The draft resolution, which was seen by Agence France-Presse, calls for “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that all parties must respect.” The text opposes “forced displacement of Palestinian civilians,” while Israel had talked regarding a plan to evacuate civilians before the ground attack in Rafah and called for the release of all hostages.
The United States warned that the Algerian text was unacceptable. Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood confirmed on Monday that his country does not believe that this text “will improve the situation on the ground, and therefore if this draft resolution is put to a vote, it will not pass.”
Displaced Palestinian children gather to get food in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (AFP)
An alternative American project
The Americans believe that this text would jeopardize the delicate diplomatic negotiations to reach a truce, including the release of more hostages.
In this context, they distributed an alternative draft resolution. The text talks regarding a “temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible” based on a formula that includes the release of all hostages.
The American project also expresses concern regarding Rafah, and warns that “a large-scale ground attack should not be launched under the current circumstances.”
According to a diplomatic source, this alternative project has no chance of being approved in its current state, especially because of the risk of a Russian veto.
For years, the Security Council has witnessed a major division over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and since October 7 it has only been able to adopt two resolutions on this issue, which are essentially two resolutions of a humanitarian nature.
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