Four tons of aid, including medicine, food and fuel, were flown to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday by a Jordanian Air Force plane, according to the BBC. There are particularly large numbers of Israeli ground troops stationed in the north and a large part of the population has been expelled to the south.
Still, an estimated 300,000 Palestinians live in the north of the Gaza Strip with little food and water, and the UN has been warning for months of imminent famine in that country. The World Food Program (WFP) announced earlier this week that aid supplies could no longer be delivered to the northern Gaza Strip “due to the breakdown of civil order with complete chaos and violence.” Teams reported an “unprecedented level of desperation.” The PMA only resumed deliveries on Sunday, after a three-week break.
Portal Aid distribution is becoming increasingly difficult
UN organizations call for immediate ceasefire
The heads of the most important UN aid organizations, such as the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WFP, have again called for a humanitarian ceasefire immediately in a joint appeal on Thursday. .
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“Diseases are widespread. There is a threat of hunger. The water supply is poor. Basic infrastructure was decimated. Food production stopped. Hospitals turned into battlefields. One million children suffer trauma every day”, they warned.
Any further escalation in the populous southern city of Rafah “would lead to mass casualties. It could also mean the death sentence for humanitarian aid, which is already on its knees”, they added, also referring to a threat of a ground offensive against the city by Israel.
Drastic warnings about the plight of children
Food and drinking water have become “incredibly scarce” in Palestinian territory, UN organizations said. At least 90 percent of children under five suffered from one or more infectious diseases. WHO emergencies coordinator Mike Ryan described hunger and disease as a “deadly combination”.
Precarious situation for children in Rafah
More than half of Gaza's population has fled Israeli attacks south to the border city of Rafah in recent weeks. There is also expected to be an Israeli offensive there in mid-March; One and a half million refugees will be transported through a corridor. The situation in Rafah is becoming increasingly difficult, especially for children.
Studies carried out in the north of the region have shown that 15.6 percent of children – or one in six children under the age of two – suffer from acute malnutrition. “Of these, almost three percent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition,” the WHO said on Monday. As the data was collected in January, the organization claims that the situation should be even worse now. Overall, the numbers increased many times compared to the pre-war period.
Ceasefire negotiations continue
Recently, there have been small signs of hope on the Israeli side about progress in negotiations for a new ceasefire and the release of Hamas hostages. Benni Ganz, a member of Israel's war cabinet, said on Wednesday there were “promising early signs” of a deal to release the hostages. Without an agreement, Israel will continue to fight, the government's position reiterated. Additionally, Hamas chief Ismail Haniya traveled to Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian mediators – also a sign that negotiations will continue.
Destroyed and damaged buildings in Gaza from October 2023 to January 2024, according to UNOSAT satellite analysis
Israeli offensive after terrorist attack on October 7
On October 7, terrorists from the radical Islamic group Hamas entered Israel and committed atrocities in the country, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli information, around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel declared that its objective is to destroy Hamas. More than 29,100 people were killed in the massive military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest figures from Hamas health authorities, which cannot be independently verified. The objective of the Israeli offensive is to destroy Hamas and free the remaining hostages, of whom, according to Israeli information, at most a hundred are still alive. However, given the high number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip, Israel is increasingly the target of international criticism.