CrossFireArabia
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres terms the situation in Gaza as a “crisis of humanity.”
He highlights the massive loss of life, extensive damage to hospitals and schools, and repeated forced displacement, repeating this is a “crisis of humanity”.
CrossFireArabia
She still smiles amidst all the destruction that is glaring and intense.
In an July assessment the UN stated it would take up to 15 years to clear the more than 40 million tonnes of the rubble caused by the continuous Israeli bombardment Gaza.
We won’t be silenced. We won’t be intimidated. We won’t lose hopes!!
CrossFireArabia
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education stated 11,001 students were martyred and 17,772 were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on 7 October, 2023.
Israeli aggression
In a statement the Ministry of Education explained, Tuesday, the number of students who were killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Israeli aggression reached more than 10,888, and those injured reached 17,224. This is while 113 students were martyred in the West Bank and 548 others were injured, in addition to 429 arrested.
It also stated that 529 teachers and administrators were killed and 3,686 were injured in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and more than 129 were arrested in the West Bank,
The Ministry’s statement pointed out that 362 government schools, universities, university buildings, and 65 UNRWA schools were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip with 124 severely damaged and 62 being completely destroyed.
Deprivation
Also 69 schools and 5 universities in the West Bank were also stormed and vandalized, and 133 government schools were used as shelters in the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry of Education confirmed that 718,000 students in the Gaza Strip are still deprived of attending their schools and universities since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, while most students suffer from psychological trauma and face difficult health conditions.
CrossFireArabia
A report issued Sunday by the UN World Food Program (WFP) revealed that Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah Port on July 20 destroyed around 800,000 liters of fuel belonging to the organization.
“Close to 800,000 liters of WFP-owned fuel for its on-demand services was destroyed by airstrikes on Al Hodeidah Port on 20 July,” the report on the humanitarian situation in Yemen said, using an alternate spelling for the port.
Courtesy: Anadolu
The airstrikes on the port, which is under the control of the Houthi group, caused numerous casualties and material losses estimated at $20 million.
The strikes followed a Houthi drone attack on the city of Tel Aviv a day earlier which killed one Israeli and injured nine others in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Yemeni officials initially reported six deaths and dozens of injuries.
Following the attack, the bodies of nine workers were recovered from the port and fuel depots according to Anadolu.
CrossFireArabia
Its being described as one of the “bloodiest” war of the 21st century. This is how Israel’s Haaretz daily termed the war on Gaza in a recent investigation.
According to Haaretz, the war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom were in zones previously designated as “safe” by the Israeli military.
The report criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accusing “the international community of hypocrisy concerning the war in the Gaza Strip – and to claim it is ignoring other conflicts and humanitarian disasters,” according to Anadolu.
For example, Netanyahu in January said: “Where was South Africa when millions were killed or expelled from their homes in Syria and Yemen?”
“But a cold examination of the numbers killed in the Gaza Strip reveals this is one of the bloodiest wars since the beginning of the century, especially if you examine the rate of mortality out of the total population,” the report pointed out.
The Israeli newspaper stated the Gaza war resulted in an extraordinarily high death toll, with approximately 40,000 Palestinians killed since the onslaught began on 7 October, 2023 7 – this this is about 2% of the Gaza’s population of two million.
Targeting safe areas
Despite the Israeli army’s designation of certain areas in Gaza as “safe areas,” the daily said “most of the residents of Gaza were displaced, but their escape to areas the Israel Defense Forces (army) has designated as safe zones has not always helped, and many have been killed in these areas too.”
The Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted these “safe areas” where displaced civilians gathered, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people, including women and children.
The report noted international organizations and media outlets have consistently verified the casualty figures provided by Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
As of Wednesday, the ministry reported nearly 40,000 Palestinian deaths and over 92,000 injuries due to the ongoing war, with more than 10,000 people still missing under the rubble.
Haaretz compared the Gaza conflict to other major humanitarian disasters.
“In the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, for example, about 25,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations.
“The war in Gaza also stands out in comparison to wars from the 1990s, for example those that took place in the former state of Yugoslavia. One of these regions was Bosnia, and in the worst year of the conflict, 1991, the average number of deaths per month was 2,097 – and the total number killed over four years there was 63,000,” it added.
4,000 fatalities per month
The newspaper highlighted the alarming death rate in Gaza, which averages around 4,000 fatalities per month, far surpassing the monthly death toll in Ukraine’s ongoing conflict.
One of the most striking aspects of the Gaza war, according to Haaretz, is the lack of safe refuge for civilians. The densely populated, 360-square-kilometer (139-square-mile) area offers little to no escape for non-combatants, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
“The difference that stands out the most between the rest of the wars of the 21st century and the war in the Gaza Strip is the size of the territory where the fighting is taking place, and the inability of the uninvolved civilians to flee the battles – and in particular the percentage of casualties among the overall population,” the newspaper elaborated.
Living conditions for displaced civilians in so-called “humanitarian” zones are dire, with overcrowding, disease and a lack of shelter and medical supplies. Haaretz emphasized the staggering impact of the war, noting that 2% of Gaza’s population has been killed in less than a year—a level of destruction rarely seen outside of Africa since World War II.
Michael Spagat, a professor at the University of London who specializes in monitoring conflict casualties, told Haaretz that “in terms of the total number of dead, I assume Gaza won’t be among the 10 most violent conflicts of the 21st century.”
“But compared to the percentage of the population killed,” Spagat assumes it is already “among the top five.”
The devastation in Gaza has led to widespread starvation and malnutrition, particularly among children. As of Wednesday, 115 infants had died since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The ministry also reported that 37 Palestinians, including children, have succumbed to hunger and malnutrition during the conflict.
Adding to the grim toll, Gaza’s Civil Defense announced the deaths of two more rescue workers in Rafah on Wednesday, bringing the total number of first responders killed since 7 October to 82.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an 7 October attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 92,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
More than 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
The International Court of Justice has accused Israel of genocide and ordered a halt to its military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge before the city was invaded on May 6.
