LONDON and RAFAH – As the war between Israel and Hamas passed the 100-day mark this week, the Gaza Strip remains devastated amid the conflict. Women and children are said to be the most victims – and those still in Gaza are desperate for help.
“I walk a kilometer [about three-quarters of a mile] “On my feet, back and forth every day, every day so that my children can eat,” Maryam Al-Dahdouh, a pregnant mother of four, told ABC News on Wednesday at a soup kitchen in Rafah, southern Gaza.
“There is no water, so we walk for miles to get a bottle of water for the children. Four children, I'm pregnant and there's nothing to eat at all. I am a pregnant mother. This pregnant mother has not eaten eggs, milk or anything healthy for three months,” Al-Dahdouh said.
Since the terrorist group Hamas's surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, the death toll on both sides of the conflict has risen. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 24,000 people were killed and over 61,000 others were injured in Gaza. According to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, at least 1,200 people were killed and 6,900 others were injured in Israel. According to Israeli officials, 526 Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed, including 193 since ground operations began in Gaza.
The IDF has said it only targets Hamas and other militants in Gaza and claims Hamas is deliberately hiding behind civilians, which the group denies.
More than 60% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed, the United Nations said in a press release on Tuesday. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that about 85% of Gaza's population, or 1.9 million people, have been forced to leave their homes. Many of them now live in tents in southern Gaza in very difficult conditions and rely on limited aid supplied from Egypt.
“The sheer volume of civilians at the border is unimaginable and the conditions in which they live are inhumane,” Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of UNICEF, told ABC News in a statement after returning from Gaza on Thursday published.
The United Nations warns that famine is becoming increasingly likely as so little aid reaches those in need in Gaza.
“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people witness daily threats to their existence – as the world watches,” said Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement on January 5.
“Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters because the sewers are overflowing. About 180 Palestinian women give birth every day amid this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. A famine is just around the corner,” Griffiths said.
ABC News saw these signs of hunger at the soup kitchen in Rafah on Wednesday. Hundreds of people stood in line, holding containers and hoping for some food from the vats of noodles and soup, many of them children who looked emaciated and hungry.
“We wait in line for a long time and sometimes we come and find that they haven't cooked anything and we wait,” Umm Mohammed told ABC News as she stood in line. “And sometimes we come and find everything is done and we leave and take nothing with us.”
“Water is scarce and poor sanitation is unavoidable. The cold and rain this week have caused waste streams. The little food available does not meet the children's special nutritional needs. As a result, thousands of children are malnourished and sick,” Chaiban said.
Among the sick children are the little ones from Al-Dahdouh. “Our children have been sick, literally sick, sick all day, fever, vomiting, diarrhea all day, not a single one of them is healthy,” she said.
“UNICEF has described the Gaza Strip as the most dangerous place in the world for children,” Chaiban said.
“We said this is a war against children. But these truths don't seem to get through. Of the nearly 25,000 people reported to have been killed in Gaza since hostilities escalated, up to 70% are said to have been killed: women and children. The killing of children must stop immediately,” he added.
According to the Qatari Foreign Ministry, two Qatari Armed Forces planes landed in El-Arish, Egypt, on Wednesday with 61 tons of relief supplies, which were then transferred to Gaza. The aid includes medicine for Israeli hostages and Gaza citizens as well as food after Qatar and Egypt brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas. According to the Qataris, there is currently no evidence that the Israeli hostages received this drug. According to Israeli officials, 136 hostages remain held captive by Hamas.