CrossFireArabia
Gazan journalist Abdul Qader Sabbah describes the tragic scene every morning in the war-torn Strip during Israel’s ongoing genocide that started soon after 7 October, 2023, turning the life of people literally upside down with massacres, mass displacements and destruction.
CrossFireArabia
CROSSFIREARABIA – According to many pictures and images Gaza was a wonderful place prior to 7 October 2023. The above picture of Al Rasheed Street, the one we used to hear about endlessly on Al Jazeera. It doesn’t exist any more – all destroyed due to Israeli bombs and malice.
Despite the Israeli-imposed siege on the enclave since 2007, the Strip was a plush territory with modern institutions, schools, universities, hospitals and a developing economy despite the squeeze. There was a sense of sustenance, cordiality, community and camaraderie among its people but no more.
It had an urban culture with buildings, towers, villas, house and yes, shanty refugee camps occupied by a population of 2.2 million that lived in the 364 square-kilometer strip but no more. For the lives of the people had been turned upside down.
The familiar face of Gaza disappeared quickly, all gone since 7 October when the Israeli army began its mass destruction and slaughter. Towns, cities and villages were razed to the ground whilst turning its people en masse into displaced persons running from one place to another to seek safe shelter.
But in Gaza there is no safe place, the Israeli military is making sure of that. Their bombs and weapons of mass destruction have made sure that men, women, children, old and young keep moving to where, nobody knows.
Israel has dropped 82,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip according to the Government Media Office in Gaza City. This figure was for early August, 2024 and its is likely to be much higher now. The amount of wreckage and debris is colossal. The UN Environment Program has stated amounts to 40 million tons of rubble (figures for July) and it would take 15 years to clear.
One blogger points out the Israeli military – army, air force and navy because Gazans are being bombarded from all directions – has dropped 36 kilograms of explosives for every man, woman, and child in Gaza.
This is a giant number that can’t be fathomed by the human mind.
The image (as provided by the UN Satellite Center, 6 July) shows that each red dot points to a bombed place in Gaza with the blogger adding this is what genocide looks like.
The huge explosives were dropped by Israeli warplanes, tanks and from the sea since the Jewish state started its war on the enclave after 7 October, 2023.
Israel’s war on Gaza is being facilitated by US support which has provided Tel Aviv with much of the weapons and mass bombs – some of these MK84 and weigh 2000 pounds per piece, other bombs weigh 1000 pounds and others still 500 pounds – for willful destruction of a thriving Palestinian society.
The Israeli Defense Ministry stated last August that the United States has provided Israel 50,000 tons of military equipment and hardware since it launched its onslaught on the Gaza Strip after 7th October, 2023. This enormous tonnage was delivered to Israel through 500 mega transport planes and 107 ships delivering hardware through sea.
Israel has destroyed 430,000 houses, 821 mosques, 3 churches, 206 historical sites, 25,000 kilometers of sewage networks and 700 water wells so far and the carnage continues.
Israel has killed more than 41,000 civilians and over 95,000 in Gaza, yet its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war must go on, while the Joe Biden administration take a backseat and continue to supply the weapons.
CrossFireArabia
Military expert Major-General Fayez Al-Duwairi confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war on Gaza by carrying out assassinations in the Lebanese and Iranian capitals in the hope of “reshuffling the cards” in the region.
He explained – in his analysis of the military scene in Al Jazeera – if Netanyahu had achieved his goals in the Gaza Strip, he would not have bombed the southern suburb of Beirut and assassinated chief of the Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.
He pointed out Netanyahu wants to save himself, and does not care about the Israeli prisoners held in Gaza. Netanyahu recovered a very small number through military operations, while more than 100 prisoners returned as part of the exchange deal concluded with Hamas late November 2023 according to Assawsana.
Al-Duwairi stressed the war of attrition of the occupation army is continuing in Gaza. He said it will keep going on while noting talk about the third phase of the war has become a thing of the past in light of the presence of four Israeli military divisions inside the Gaza Strip.
According to the military expert, the presence of this large number of Israeli forces means “a return to square one of the fighting despite the passage of more than 300 days since the outbreak of the war,” and which started soon after 7 October of last year.
He stressed the resistance videos that are broadcast daily from various combat zones in the Gaza Strip speak for themselves. They show the resistance’s performance on the ground.
He pointed out the statements of the Chief of Staff of the Occupation Army Herzi Halevi in which he called for seizing any opportunity to conclude a deal to cease fire in Gaza and exchange prisoners, indicate this means his army want to “escape from the sands of Gaza.”
CrossFireArabia
About 10% of the Gaza Strip’s population has been killed, injured, or is missing due to the 293-day genocide carried out by Israel in the Strip, ongoing since 7 October 2023 according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
Euro-Med Monitor’s preliminary statistics indicate that about 50,000 Palestinians have been killed. This number includes those reportedly trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, or whose bodies are either stuck on roads or in border areas that have been completely destroyed, and thus cannot be recovered. More than about 100,000 others, meanwhile, have been injured. The majority of these victims were civilians, mostly women and children, while about 3,000 additional Palestinians have simply disappeared after being arrested from the Gaza Strip, with their fate remaining unknown.
The estimates provided by Euro-Med Monitor are based on data and statistics gathered by its field teams in neighbourhoods and camps located in the Gaza Strip, as well as from information received from relevant authorities and institutions, including several hospitals and medical teams. These indicate that at least 51,000 people have died as a result of the Israeli blockade of the entire Strip; denial of medical care; collapse of the health sector due to Israel’s targeting and blockade; insufficient ambulance services due to said targeting and blockade, as well as a severe shortage of basic medicines, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses and cancer; prevention of the ability to travel abroad for treatment; and the spread of infectious diseases and epidemics.
Accordingly, the natural death rate increased from an estimated 3.5 per 1,000 people prior to the start of the genocide to 22 per 1,000 people during the genocide.
The number of beds available in operating hospitals and field hospitals across the Gaza Strip is down to less than 1,500, which is insufficient to accommodate the needs of over two million people. This is in contrast to the 3,500 beds that were available prior to 7 October. The scarcity of medical supplies and equipment is making the bed shortage worse, as is the Israeli army’s ongoing, systematic, and widespread destruction of hospitals and health facilities. Additionally, there has been a notable rise in the number of wounded and sick, which has resulted in a weak medical response and serious health complications for these individuals, as well as avoidable deaths among the elderly.
The lack of clean water, extreme overcrowding, breakdown of sanitation infrastructure, build-up of waste, scarcity of cleaning and sterilisation supplies, and the frequent forced evacuations all contribute to the rapid spread of infectious diseases.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, 990,000 cases of acute respiratory infections—574,000 of acute watery diarrhoea, 107,000 of jaundice syndrome, and 12,000 of bloody diarrhoea—were recorded as of 7 July 2024, with the actual number of infections likely much higher. Rashes and skin infections, particularly among children, are also on the rise. This trend correlates with a drop in routine vaccination rates and a higher chance of vaccine-preventable illnesses like the poliovirus, which was recently found to be present in the Gaza Strip’s wastewater.
Since Israel started its genocide more than 10 months ago, the people living in the Gaza Strip have endured constant bombardment; shooting; tank shelling; methodical and extensive destruction of houses and other civilian property, as well as essential infrastructure; and frequent attacks on makeshift shelters and tents for the displaced.
Israel is continuing to commit genocide against civilians in Palestine, with the intention of eradicating and destroying them by all possible means, including starvation, denial of medical attention and humanitarian aid, systematic evacuation, torture, and the imposition of living conditions that will eventually cause their destruction.
Israel’s fierce military assaults have caused over 70% of the Gaza Strip’s buildings to be destroyed or severely damaged, forcing over two million Palestinians (out of roughly 2.3 million) to evacuate. The majority of these people have been forced to relocate multiple times, leaving them to live in filthy, uncomfortable temporary tents that are susceptible to the elements, and rendering them especially vulnerable to infectious diseases that spread quickly in crowded areas.
The hardship faced by hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people across the Gaza Strip is extreme. This is particularly true inside United Nations shelter centres, where there is severe overcrowding—up to five or six families crammed into a single classroom—and exceptional danger due to the Israeli military’s frequent attacks on these facilities, the damage they cause, and the potential for contamination from explosive ordnance.
This is coupled with a lack of supplies for making adequate shelters, a shortage of drinkable water, and storage issues, plus deteriorating sanitation conditions which have resulted in sewage seeping into the streets in many displacement sites. Additionally, families are frequently forced to rely on extremely salted water for drinking, and deal with a lack of personal hygiene due to the absence of privacy, personal space, water, and hygiene supplies.
The intense heat and accumulation of solid waste also attract insects such as mosquitoes. Communities often burn waste piles in an effort to stop the spread of insects and diseases, but the release of toxic fumes poses additional health risks.
Furthermore, a great deal of food insecurity exists as a result of Israel’s persistent efforts to obstruct the entry of aid supplies. In addition to a lack of infant formulae, few tests available to identify malnutrition, and uneven distribution of nutritional supplements, women struggle to breastfeed their babies as a result of psychological trauma, stress, and malnourishment.
As a form of retaliation and collective punishment against the people of the Gaza Strip, Israel has steadily targeted civilians, civilan objects, and UN-flagged shelter centres in an effort to cause as many casualties as possible. This constitutes full-fledged war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court, as well as violations of international humanitarian law and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Ensuring the health and dignity of the populace through access to water and sanitation is a fundamental human right that has gained international recognition. However, granting this right to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip will require ending Israel’s genocide, lifting the siege, and salvaging what remains in the enclave, which is not currently viable for life. Delays will either cause all sectors in the Strip to completely collapse, or incur further significant costs in terms of civilian lives and health.
The international community is responsible for ensuring that humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip, including the northern part of the Strip, in a timely, safe, and efficient manner. This aid must include all of the basic food and non-food items needed to address the dire circumstances that the entire Strip’s population is experiencing.
Pressure must be applied to Israel to reopen the main pipelines that typically supply water to the Gaza Strip, particularly those that enter the north of the Strip, as well as to guarantee the safety of technicians who need to repair and restore the water lines and their various sources while also maintaining sanitation facilities and services. Pressure should also be applied to Israel to ensure that enough fuel is imported to run the Strip’s water and sanitation infrastructure, which includes stations, water desalination plants, water wells, and mobile water cycles, and to facilitate the entry of the necessary supplies for repair and rehabilitation work on such infrastructure. These services are essential to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and protect them from the risk of health disasters.
An immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is necessary and critical, and must be accompanied by measures designed to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources to meet people’s basic humanitarian needs. All nations must fulfil their international obligations by ensuring Israel’s compliance with the rules of international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, enacting strong sanctions against Israel, and severing all political, financial, and military support and cooperation with it. This should include immediately halting arms transfers to Israel, including export permits and military aid.
Nations that provide Israel with weapons, military technology, and other forms of support, despite the presumed knowledge that this support is being used to commit international crimes against the Palestinians, must be held accountable for the crimes that have been committed in the Gaza Strip, including genocide.
This article is reprinted from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
