One month into conflict and besiege, displaced Gazans live in “hell”
GAZA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — As the Israel-Hamas conflict continued on Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes on shelters and the vicinity of hospitals in Gaza City and its north have turned the lives of displaced and wounded Palestinians into a “hell.”
Wahid Al-Munirawi remained shocked after an Israeli strike targeted shelters in the Jabalia camp where his family resides. Working as a radiology technician at the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip, Al-Munirawi told Xinhua over the phone that “luckily, my wife and daughter were not harmed, but people here are being killed by continuous Israeli bombings and siege.”
“Food is scarce, water is not potable, and even the remaining energy sources are being shelled and destroyed, leaving nowhere for people to go,” he added.
Three of Al-Munirawi’s siblings are receiving treatment at the Indonesian hospital, but he warned that medical services might cease due to fuel shortages.
Meanwhile, 15 Palestinians were killed in an attack on the Al-Fakhour school on Saturday, with 74 others sustaining injuries, according to Gaza-based Health Ministry. This school had previously been targeted by a similar Israeli attack in the winter of 2008-2009.
Images and video footage showed bloodstains on broken cooking utensils and crumbs of bread loaves before they were baked inside the targeted school.
Over the past 24 hours, the ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes on shelters and hospitals have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries.
The Israeli army surrounded Gaza City and the Jabalia camp on Thursday, continuing to bombard sites in the south. Palestinian refugees say they are living in “unbearable hell with no food or water, and corpses everywhere” amid relentless airstrikes and shelling.
The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands have been displaced to the southern part of the enclave, while hundreds of thousands remain trapped in hospitals and shelters close to the frontlines between the Israeli army and Hamas fighters and other Palestinian armed factions.
Over the past full month since the outbreak of the deadly conflict, the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza has climbed to 10,328, including 4,237 children, 2,719 women, and 631 elderly people, while deaths of Israelis were over 1,400 with thousands injured, according to official statistics from both sides.
Israel cut off fuel, electricity, food, and water supplies to Gaza as punitive measures against Gaza after Hamas, the ruler of the enclave, launched a surprise attack on Israeli border towns in early October.
A woman who identified herself as Um Tawfiq said “we can’t find food or water. Prices are high, and we have no currency or salaries.”
The distribution of food and medical supplies in the southern part of Gaza has been chaotic amidst the increasing needs of the population, with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) continuing to work to meet the vast needs of the displaced.
UNRWA’s plan to limit the distribution of wheat flour to bakeries and sell it to residents at reduced prices alleviates some of the Palestinians’ suffering.
Waleed Mahanna, who was from Gaza and now stays with his relatives in Rafah, said “every day, I stand from dawn till noon to buy a loaf of bread.”
“This is the worst inhumane situation one can face,” he said.
Source – Indonesia News
