The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that for more than a year, Israel has prevented the entry of blankets, clothes and shoes into the Gaza Strip, including the needs of children, in light of the onset of a severe cold season and catastrophic humanitarian conditions.
Euro-Med pointed out that the second winter season has entered since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, in light of a severe shortage of clothes and shoes that have been banned from entering the Gaza Strip since the first day of the war, except for some quantities that entered as part of humanitarian aid, which were distributed to a small part of The displaced number about two million people.
The Euro-Med Monitor said that there is no justification or military necessity in international law that allows preventing the entry of these essentials into the civilian population, noting that the Israeli occupation army imposes restrictions on their entry as part of its effort to impose harsh living conditions on the Palestinians that lead to their actual destruction, as part of the crime of genocide. The overall collective you commit there.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory indicated that the total amount of trucks entering the Gaza Strip in the past period did not exceed 6% of the population’s daily needs, and most of that related to foodstuffs, and what related to clothes and shoes did not exceed 0.001%, which caused a real crisis, especially since Israel destroyed what At least 70% of the sector’s homes and the majority of shops and markets, including those selling clothing, in addition to restricting the formats for entering goods for merchants.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children, women and the elderly, are left without sufficient clothing to protect them from the extreme cold as winter approaches, with the vast majority of the displaced remaining in tents that do not protect them from the cold and rain.
Euro-Med said that these catastrophic conditions threaten to increase the exposure of Palestinians to serious diseases, such as respiratory infections and other cold-related diseases, in light of the lack of necessary medical care.
Arbitrary siege
The situation is exacerbated by the acute shortage of essential medicines needed to treat cold-related illnesses, which is directly attributable to the arbitrary blockade imposed by Israel. Moreover, the scarcity and lack of variety of food, with the population relying heavily on canned foods, have weakened the immune systems. They have, making them more susceptible to diseases and viruses.
Euro-Med highlighted that about two million out of 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are displaced and forcibly displaced from their homes, while most of them live in tents, schools, or in the remains of their destroyed homes, after they were forced to forcibly move several times, and in most of them they were forced to leave their clothes and belongings. Personality and they went out with only what they were wearing.
He added that the majority of families lost most of their possessions due to bombing and displacement, which further aggravated the situation, while they searched for clothes and shoes in markets destroyed by Israel.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory indicated that its field team observed children in Gaza walking barefoot in streets filled with debris and sewage due to the lack of shoes, and wearing light, worn-out clothes in the rain.
He warned that the lack of shoes increases children’s exposure to injuries and wounds, making them vulnerable to infection in an environment that lacks medicines and medical supplies due to the siege.
Euro-Med pointed out that families resort to temporary solutions that are insufficient and unsafe and increase their suffering and oppression, such as making shoes for their children from wood and plastic. Today, due to the scarcity of clothing, Gazans are forced to patch worn clothes or sew them from blankets, while only those who have the financial ability are able to purchase these replacements.
Destruction of life
Euro-Med stated that Israel also prevents other essentials for protection from the cold of winter, such as blankets, firewood, fuel, and heating sources, and also prevents the entry of sufficient quantities of tents, curtains, and nylon, which caused the majority of the displaced to be unable to cover their tents and protect them from the rain, and led to hundreds of tents being flooded and the few luggage getting wet. Among the displaced people, due to the rainy weather during the past two days.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory confirmed that the continuous and severe deprivation of the basics necessary for life is an act of genocide, as it intends to strip the population of the most basic means of protection and create conditions aimed at destroying them and targeting their cultural, social and physical identity with the aim of erasing their existence. This deprivation particularly targets children and other vulnerable groups, which increases their suffering and contributes to high death rates due to harsh weather conditions.
Euro-Med stressed that depriving all segments of the civilian population of basic needs is considered a direct attack on their dignity and destroying their morale, stripping them of their humanity and treating them as undeserving of even the most basic rights, which reinforces the state of despair experienced by all residents of the Gaza Strip.
Euro-Med called on international and international organizations to work by all possible means to pressure Israel to bring essential materials into the Gaza Strip. It also called on them to expose these crimes publicly and shed light on the human suffering resulting from them.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities in stopping the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and all criminal acts associated with it, considering that this is the only way to protect civilians and try to save what can be saved in light of the serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory called in particular for the entry of winter clothes, shoes, and basic tools to the Palestinians immediately and without any obstacles, demanding that sanctions be imposed on Israel and that the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court be implemented against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant at the first opportunity and that they be handed over to justice. International.
