The government media office in Gaza warned Thursday evening that a “deep humanitarian catastrophe” had begun to take shape as a result of the Israeli occupation army’s invasion of the eastern Rafah governorate, south of the Strip, and its occupation of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.
He added, in a statement, that this disaster was contributed to by the Israeli army’s occupation of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, as well as its prevention of the entry of medical and food aid trucks and the travel of thousands of sick and wounded people.
He explained that during the past two days, the occupation forces prevented the entry of more than 400 aid trucks and the travel of wounded and sick people, including 159 cancer patients.
The government office considered that this gave clear indications of a real crisis in Gaza.
He also stressed that the “crime of stopping aid” threatens the occurrence of famine for more than 1.7 million people living in the southern governorates of Gaza.
The Gaza government held the US administration, Israel and the international community “fully responsible” for the disaster and the deep humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and urged countries of the world to put pressure on Israel to stop the aggression against Rafah and open the crossings immediately and urgently.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the Israeli occupation army announced “operational control” over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the day after it began a military operation in the city, and issued warnings to 100,000 Palestinians to forcibly evacuate eastern Rafah.
Israel justifies its invasion of Rafah by claiming that it is “the last stronghold of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas),” despite regional and international warnings of catastrophic repercussions due to the presence of about 1.7 million Palestinians in the city, including 1.4 million displaced people.
The Israeli escalation against Rafah came despite Hamas announcing, last Monday, its acceptance of the Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the movement’s position aims to “to blow up the entry of our forces into Rafah,” and “is far removed from the requirements of the movement.” “Necessary Tel Aviv.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza, leaving more than 113,000 people dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues the war on Gaza despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting “immediately” and the International Court of Justice’s demand for immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.