GENEVA: Global calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war have gone unheeded, preventing anything more than a trickle of humanitarian aid from entering Israeli-besieged Gaza as shortages of food, fuel, drinking water and medicine worsen.
Here is a rundown of what some U.N. agencies call a “humanitarian catastrophe” enveloping the tiny Hamas-ruled enclave of 2.3 million people.
DISPLACEMENT
About 1.5 million people – more than half the population of the Gaza Strip – have fled their homes, with more than 700,000 sheltering in buildings run by the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), the U.N. humanitarian office (OCHA) says. Tens of thousands of others are in hospitals and churches.
UNRWA shelters in the south are overcrowded and unable to take new arrivals and many displaced people are sleeping in the streets, near the shelters, OCHA said. UNRWA is no longer able to give aid to displaced people in the north which has been the focus of Israel’s expanded ground operations since Oct. 27.
Israel has called on civilians in north Gaza – the heart of Hamas’ forces – to evacuate to the south for their own safety and gave a specific time window on Nov. 5 to do so.
However, U.N. monitoring showed that less than 2,000 did so, citing fear, heavy damage to roads and lack of information due to limited communications.
HOSPITALS
Over a third of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are not functioning and those still in service report dire fuel shortages that have severely reduced their electricity supply, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
The generators of two hospitals (Shifa and Indonesian Hospital) have stopped working due to lack of fuel and are running on secondary generators for a few hours a day and for critical services only, OCHA said.
However, Israeli officials have disputed the warnings of fuel shortages and Israel’s envoy to the United Nations posted a video on X of what he described as a film screening next to Shifa hospital by Hamas where windows of the building appear illuminated.
The WHO has documented at least 93 attacks in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began, killing 16 on-duty health care workers and damaging or destroying 28 ambulances.
AID DELIVERIES
Aid is being delivered through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only open border crossing, but just a fraction of pre-conflict deliveries are getting through. Since limited deliveries resumed on Oct. 21, at least 450 trucks have entered Gaza carrying food, water and health supplies.
Hundreds of foreign nationals and wounded were allowed to leave Gaza for Egypt last week but OCHA said no such exits have been reported since an ambulance on its way to Rafah was hit on Nov. 3. The Israel military said, without showing evidence, that it was carrying Hamas militants.
FOOD AND WATER
Gaza residents are facing severe water shortages. One of two plants to desalinate seawater is shut down for lack of fuel with the other operating at minimum levels, OCHA said. Two of three water pipelines from Israel are operating.
The only functioning mill in Gaza remains unable to grind wheat due to a lack of electricity and fuel, OCHA said, and eleven bakeries have been hit in the conflict.
Stocks of essential food items in Gaza including rice and vegetable oil are about to be depleted in 1-3 days, the World Food Programme said.
FUEL
Aid groups say fuel is urgently needed to distribute aid and to power hospitals, bakeries and desalination plants. But the entry of fuel remains banned by Israel which says it could be diverted to Hamas for military purposes. The U.N. aid chief said ‘some progress’ had been made in talks on letting fuel into Gaza, although no shipments have been confirmed.
