Gaza Strip: unprecedented and catastrophic humanitarian situation

The Gaza Strip is currently experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe that could lead to the genocide of its inhabitants, which is what the Zionist entity seeks, as Israel has occupied the Strip for the sixteenth consecutive day since October 7. The forces continue to carry out heavy air strikes on the Gaza Strip, destroying entire communities, killing and injuring thousands of Palestinian civilians, and cutting off food, water, medicine and fuel from the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
The first humanitarian aid convoy since 2007 entered the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday, including 20 trucks that came through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. But that number is too limited for the United Nations, which wants 100 trucks a day to bring relief to Gaza’s 2.4 million deprived people.
Hope still exists in the work currently being done by the United Nations, as confirmed in its latest statement issued a few hours ago, at least 100 trucks need to pass through the Rafah crossing every day, and any aid coming in must be prevented due to Israel’s devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip day and night, which is now out of reach, but it is doing its best to make such hope a reality.
The most obvious humanitarian disaster in Israel’s aggression against the Gaza Strip is the health sector, with the Gaza Ministry of Health announcing that seven hospitals and 21 health centers in the Gaza Strip have ceased service, according to the latest report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that hospitals in the Gaza Strip have entered a stage of almost complete collapse, with most of them operating at minimum capacity, and the report said that measures taken to maintain the operation of emergency rooms include suspending some surgical operations, working in darkness, restricting the use of elevators, and stopping some important procedures such as disinfection and dialysis.
Most of the injured in the Al-Ahli / Baptist Hospital blast were transferred to the Al-Shifa Medical Center in Gaza City, Gaza City, which is the largest hospital in Gaza. Before the incident, Al-Shifa Hospital was operating far beyond its capacity as it was treating about a quarter of Gaza’s patients.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health has reallocated the limited fuel still available from other public facilities to the hospital to prevent it from closing completely, while calling on people with local fuel consumption to donate it to the hospital.
Estimates from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicate that mortality rates in Gaza (excluding casualties from hostilities) are rising due to limited access to basic health care.
Of particular concern are the estimated 20,000 people suffering from mental health issues, lack of access to health services and medication, as well as violence and abuse, and disappearances during the expulsions. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women also face severe challenges in accessing antenatal and postnatal care due to movement-related risks, disruptions to health facilities and shortages of life-saving supplies.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization recorded 59 attacks on health facilities, affecting 26 health facilities (including 17 damaged hospitals) and 23 ambulances. Four hospitals in northern Gaza (Beit Hanoun, Karama and Dura) had to be evacuated and are no longer operational.
In the same context, five UN agencies warned that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has become catastrophic, stressing that hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded and children are dying at an alarming rate.
The World Health Organization, World Food Program, United Nations Children’s Fund, United Nations Development Program and United Nations Population Fund issued a statement saying that before the operation, the humanitarian situation in Gaza was very dire. Israel’s aggression broke out on October 7 and called on the international community to take more action to help the people of Gaza.
Five UN agencies confirmed that “the mortality rate is alarming among children, who are deprived of their rights to protection, food, water and medical care… Hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded… Civilians face greater difficulties in obtaining basic food supplies.” According to the latest statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 51 health workers were among the dead and 87 others were injured.
Another disaster that the people of the Gaza Strip are experiencing is their lifeline…water…as the production of municipal groundwater sources is currently less than 5% of the levels before the Israeli aggression, and 7% of Gaza’s water supply from three desalination plants is currently out of service.
Water delivery has ceased in most areas due to fuel shortages, insecurity and roads clogged with rubble, making bottled water largely unavailable and too expensive for most households to afford. Private suppliers operating small desalination and purification plants, often powered by solar energy, have become the main providers of clean drinking water.
As a result, average water consumption from all sources and for all needs, including cooking and sanitation, has dropped to just 3 litres per person per day, according to estimates by WASH cluster partners.
Gazans drink brackish water extracted from agricultural wells, which leads to increased exposure to pesticides and other chemicals, exposing residents to the risk of death or the spread of infectious diseases. East Khan Younis (Bani Suhaila area) is one of the few areas that currently provides tap water to households for a few hours a day.
Prior to this, the Israeli occupation authorities reactivated one of the three water supply lines serving the area, which provides about 14,400 cubic meters of water per day, less than 4% of the water consumed in the Gaza Strip before the Israeli aggression. Water supply to other parts of Khan Yunis city has been hampered due to insufficient pumping capacity.

Most of the 65 sewage pumping stations have stopped operating, increasing the risk of sewage overflows. In some areas, sewage and solid waste are piling up on the streets, posing health and environmental risks, and all five sewage treatment plants in Gaza have been forced to stop operating due to lack of electricity.
The World Food Programme also said that basic food stocks were only enough for two weeks, but were stored in warehouses in Gaza City that were difficult to access, while shops had only four or five days of stock.
One of the six bakeries contracted by the World Food Programme, located in Deir al-Balah in the central region, was bombed and is no longer operating. Four other bakeries on the Strip are no longer operating. No bread can be delivered due to a lack of fuel to operate the machines. Bakeries have run out of basic ingredients, especially wheat flour, and are unable to operate. Only one of the five factories in Gaza is currently operating.
Power outages disrupted food security by affecting cooling, crop irrigation and crop hatching equipment, thereby harming various livelihoods including poultry, livestock, fish and other commodities.
Lack of feed and damage caused by airstrikes have affected farmers, with many livestock keepers, especially small-scale keepers, reporting heavy losses to their livestock, particularly in the poultry sector, while farmers in eastern agricultural fields in Khan Younis and other localities have lost their crops.
Currently, more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip has been made homeless or homeless, and a recent report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) stated that the Israeli occupation forces have brutally continued their aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, destroying 30% of the homes in the Gaza Strip, and stated that 12,845 homes were completely destroyed, 9,000 homes were uninhabitable, and more than 121,000 homes were damaged.
An assessment conducted by the United Nations Satellite Center in the northern Gaza Governorate found that 927 buildings were destroyed and 4,337 buildings suffered moderate to severe damage, accounting for about 15% of all buildings in the area. The report estimates that the number of internally displaced persons in Gaza is about 1 million, of which more than 527,500 are living in 147 emergency shelters designated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and their living conditions are becoming increasingly poor.
Educational facilities in the central and southern regions of UNRWA are severely overcrowded and face severe shortages of basic resources such as water, food and medicine. In some education bureaus, UNRWA has been forced to ration drinking water, providing only one litre of water per person per day, knowing that the minimum international standard is 15 litres.
The report notes that the siege continues, with the Gaza Strip completely closed, with the Rafah, Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings remaining shut, preventing the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid, including food, water, medicine and fuel.
The report states that the current average water consumption of Gazans for all needs (drinking, cooking and sanitation) is estimated at 3 litres per person per day. People are consuming increasing amounts of water from unsafe sources, putting them at risk of death and exposing people to outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The number of martyrs reported in Gaza is about 60 percent higher than the total number of martyrs during the escalation that lasted more than 50 days in 2014, the UN report said, noting that in addition, hundreds of people, including women and children, are estimated to have been killed and remain trapped under the rubble awaiting rescue.
The rescue teams, mostly from the Palestinian Civil Defence Force, are struggling to carry out their mission amid ongoing air strikes, severe fuel shortages for their vehicles and equipment, and limited or no mobile phone network connectivity.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 79 families lost 10 or more members, 85 families lost six to nine members, and 320 families lost two to five members.
The decision to allow the Rafah crossing to be opened for humanitarian aid brought a glimmer of hope as a convoy of trucks carrying long-awaited humanitarian aid crossed into the southern area, injecting a little blood into the lifeline of the completely devastated Gaza Strip. On Saturday, for the first time since the occupation began its devastating siege on Gaza, it coincided with its military bombing of the northern Gaza Strip and warnings of intensified strikes.
Twenty trucks loaded with emergency humanitarian aid were inspected and hoisted white flags before entering the Gaza Strip, heading for the southern Gaza region, which includes the major cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge amid Israel’s ongoing, relentless air strikes.
But Palestinian officials expressed frustration at the lack of fuel in the aid, adding that it represented only three percent of the fuel supplies that entered Gaza before the crisis. “Excluding the introduction of fuel as part of humanitarian aid would put at risk the lives of the wounded and sick and the continuation of life-saving services,” the Gaza Strip Health Ministry said. “Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have completely exhausted their resources and are running low on resources due to the lack of the most basic emergency treatment ingredients, including fuel.”
It is worth reminding that before the conflict broke out, an average of about 450 aid trucks arrived in Gaza every day. Can the efforts of the United Nations, international humanitarian organizations and countries around the world successfully restore it to 50% of this rate? !