Israel-Gaza war
The area is facing a “catastrophic” hunger crisis, while the decision on aid payments remains mired in disagreements in the Security Council
Thu Dec 21, 2023, 12.45pm GMT
According to the United Nations, Gaza is facing a “catastrophic” hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions and all residents of the besieged coastal strip will face acute food insecurity in the coming weeks.
At the same time, hopes for a temporary pause in fighting to allow a new prisoner exchange faded as Hamas rejected talks until Israel stopped its military assault on Gaza. On Thursday evening, the US said it could support an amended version of a UN resolution aimed at increasing aid flows to Gaza, but only after withdrawing a call for “an urgent cessation of hostilities”.
A vote on the amended resolution was postponed until Friday and it was not confirmed that all other 14 council members, particularly Russia, would vote for the amended version.
Amid ongoing concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the United Nations declared the famine “catastrophic” with thousands of people at risk of starvation.
According to a report by the United Nations and food security authorities, four out of five households in northern Gaza and half of displaced people in the south went without food for days.
Noelia Monge, head of emergency relief at Action Against Hunger, said: “Everything we do is not enough to meet the needs of 2 million people.” Finding flour and rice is difficult and people have to spend hours wait until they have access to latrines and can wash themselves. We are experiencing an emergency like I have never experienced before.”
The United Nations hunger monitoring system, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), released a report saying the “most likely scenario” in Gaza is that by February 7 “the entire population will be living in Gaza.” . [about 2.2 million people] hunger would be “in crisis or worse.”
“This is the highest proportion of people experiencing acute food insecurity that the IPC Initiative has ever classified for a specific area or country,” the report said.
The IPC warned that about 50% of the population is expected to be in the “emergency phase” – defined as very high levels of acute malnutrition and excess mortality – by February 7.
The IPC has a five-tier system for assessing food crises and its report states that in Gaza, “at least one in four households,” or over half a million people, would face catastrophic phase five conditions.
“While levels of acute malnutrition and non-trauma-related mortality may not yet have exceeded famine thresholds, these are typically the results of prolonged and extreme gaps in food consumption,” it said.
Famines are exacerbating the threat of disease and vulnerability as winter sets in at a time when about 90% of Gaza's population has been displaced by the Israeli military offensive sparked by a surprise attack by Hamas.
Hamas issued a statement on Thursday saying that “prisoners or exchange agreements cannot be discussed unless aggression has completely ceased.” It said the statement represented a “Palestinian national decision.”
About 120 Israelis are still being held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. More than 100 were released under an earlier deal that also saw the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a temporary halt to fighting.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Qatar-based Hamas leader, traveled to Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian officials to broker another agreement. The meeting ended without result.
“No negotiations” on hostage release until Israeli aggression ends, Hamas says – video
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, appeared to reject the prospect of another ceasefire on Wednesday. “Anyone who thinks that we will stop is out of touch with reality. “We will not stop the fighting until all of the goals we have set are achieved: the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the elimination of the threat from Gaza,” he said in a statement.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said he was astonished that after a month of negotiations, the UN Security Council was unable to support a resolution calling for a humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Gaza. “We have to call things by their proper names. We have a crisis,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization, there were no functioning hospitals left in the north of the Gaza Strip and only nine partially functioning hospitals in the south.
A person injured in Israeli airstrikes arrives at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip for treatment. Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative in Gaza, said: “There are actually no functioning hospitals left in the north. Al-Ahli was the last, but now it is minimally functional, still treating patients but not accepting new ones.”
He said al-Ahli was a “shell of a hospital” and resembled a hospice that provided very limited care. About 10 staff members, all young doctors and nurses, provided basic first aid, pain management and wound care with limited resources, he said.
“Until two days ago, it was the only hospital in northern Gaza where injured people could be operated on, and it was overcrowded with patients needing emergency care,” he said. “Due to a lack of fuel, electricity, medical supplies and health workers, including surgeons and other specialists, there are no more operating rooms.”
Peeperkorn said the bodies were lined up in the hospital yard because they could not be buried safely and with dignity.
Some patients in al-Ahli had been waiting weeks for surgery, and those operated on were at risk of infection due to a lack of antibiotics and other medications. “All these patients cannot move and need to be transferred urgently to have a chance of survival,” he said.
A humanitarian ceasefire is needed to “strengthen and replenish remaining health facilities, provide the medical care needed by thousands of injured and people in need of other vital care, and, most importantly, to stop bloodshed and death.” Peeperkorn said.
Aside from the al-Ahli hospital, three others in northern Gaza were barely functioning.
Israeli military vehicles cross the border fence into Shejaiya in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Abir Sultan/EPA
Israeli forces said Thursday they discovered a network of tunnels with entrances connected to the homes of Hamas leaders in Gaza City.
The IDF released images that appear to show spiral staircases leading to the tunnels, heavy fire doors, electrical infrastructure and sanitation facilities.
The Hamas government's media office said on Wednesday that at least 20,000 people had been killed in Gaza since October 7, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women. Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel in Hamas' murderous rampage on October 7th.
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