Gaza Constraints on the Future of Aid Operations: Israeli Attack on Hamas During the October 7 Assassination and the First Day of the Gaza War
Since launching its assault on Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has barred entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies, except for a trickle of aid entering the south from Egypt at the Rafah crossing and Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing. 500 supply trucks came in daily before the war, but the number is far less than that today.
The World Food Program said earlier this month that it was pausing deliveries to the north because of the growing chaos, after desperate Palestinians emptied a convoy while it was en route.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are believed to remain in northern Gaza despite Israeli orders to evacuate the area in October, and many have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive. The U.N says that 1 in 6 children will suffer from acute malnutrition by the age of 2.
The U.N. warned of more mass casualties if Israel attacks the southernmost city of Gaza, where more than half of Gaza’s population has taken refuge. They believe that an offensive by Rafah would decimate aid operations.
The violence went up in the West Bank since October 7. Two Israelis were killed on Thursday at a gas station in Eli, according to the Israeli military. The military said that the attacker was dead.
In the war, 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and around 250 hostages were seized by the militant group. Hamas and other militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of about 30 more, after releasing most of the other captives during a November cease-fire.
An analysis of the first weeks of mortality reports from the health ministry suggested that there were reasonable data quality and that deaths among Gazan population groups were likely to be largely civilians.
Dr. Mohammed Salha, the acting director of the Al-Awda Hospital, said the facility received 161 wounded patients, most of whom appeared to have been shot. He stated that the hospital is running out of fuel and cannot provide the most essential surgeries.
The violence came more than a month after witnesses and health officials in Gaza accused Israeli troops of firing on a previous aid distribution in Gaza City, killing at least 20 people.
Hamas has not ruled out a cease-fire as a solution to the Gaza bloodshed: Palestinians and Aid Convoy in Gaza
Ahmad, a man who only gave his first name, said he was waiting for someone with a horse-drawn cart to take him to the hospital after being shot in the arm and leg.
Medics arriving at the scene of the bloodshed Thursday found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground, according to Fares Afana, the head of the ambulance service at Kamal Adwan Hospital. He said there were not enough ambulances to collect all the dead and wounded and that some were being brought to hospitals in donkey carts.
The increasing alarm over hunger across Gaza has fueled international calls for a cease-fire, and the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are working to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of some of the hostages Hamas took during its Oct. 7 attack.
Israel is accused of targeting civilians in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. They called for increased safe passages in their statements. They also urged the international community to make Israel comply with international law and to reach an agreement for a cease-fire.
He said Israeli troops opened fire on the crowd as people pulled boxes off trucks, causing them to scatter, with some hiding under cars. After the shooting stopped, people went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again. He had been shot in his leg and fell over, but the truck ran over him as it sped off.
Kamel Abu Nahel was being treated for a gunshot wound and went to the distribution point because he heard there would be a delivery of food. He said that they had been eating animal feed for two months.
Source: Scores killed trying to get food from an aid convoy during a chaotic scene in Gaza
The World Health Organization (WHO) condemns the Gaza violence and the israeli attacks on Hamas in the early 1990s and early 2000s
The violence was condemned by Arab countries as well as the U.S. president who expressed concern that it would add difficulty to the cease-fire negotiations.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Thursday in a social media post marking the 30,000 deaths that most of those killed in Gaza were women and children.
The health ministry has said infants have died from dehydration and malnutrition in recent days. A physician who was in Gaza late in January told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that there were people dying due to the lack of medical supplies.
On Wednesday, Hamas’s political leader said in a televised speech that while the group was open to making a deal with Israel, it was also ready to continue fighting. Palestinians were urged to march to the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem in March, raising the risk of fresh violence around a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.
President Biden expressed growing frustration with the rising death toll and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, even as he expressed his support of Israel’s offensive. The leaders of Israel have insisted that they will continue fighting in order to eliminate Hamas, the group that launched an attack on Israel that left at least 1200 people dead.
The death toll in Gaza passed 30,000 on Thursday as the local health ministry reported that more than 3,000 people had died since October.