8/5/2024–|Last updated: 5/8/202407:59 PM (Mecca time)
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the occupation forces prevented for the second day the entry of trucks of medicines and medical and relief supplies into the Strip, amid warnings of a “wave of starvation” in Rafah, and that the amount of fuel in its hospitals is sufficient for only 3 days.
The Ministry explained that its hospitals in Rafah were out of service, due to the Israeli threat of evacuation and violent bombing, and that there was no place to treat the sick and wounded, especially critical cases.
For its part, the government media office in the Gaza Strip warned of a “wave of starvation” that Israel seeks to impose in the south of the Strip.
Director of the Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said, “Israel is preventing the entry of aid due to its closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing and its control of the Rafah crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt.”
He pointed out that preventing the injured from traveling for treatment outside Gaza threatens to have serious repercussions on their lives, noting that the Gaza Strip is facing a humanitarian catastrophe created by the Israeli army through its occupation of the Rafah crossing.
For his part, Scott Anderson, Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip, said on Wednesday that the agency had not received any aid or fuel through the Rafah crossing in the southern Strip.
Anderson explained, “We are not receiving any aid in the Gaza Strip, and the Rafah crossing area is witnessing military operations and continuous bombing throughout the day (Wednesday).”
He added, “No fuel or aid entered the Gaza Strip, and this is disastrous for the humanitarian response.”
While the UNRWA official did not reveal the period of time that witnessed the cessation of aid and spoke about it in his post, his statements coincided with Israel’s claim to reopen the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, to bring aid into Gaza, in response to a request from US President Joe Biden.
Hospitals are suffering
In a related development, the Director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Wednesday that the amount of fuel in hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip is sufficient for only 3 days.
Ghebreyesus wrote on the
He added, “The closure of the border crossing still prevents the United Nations from bringing fuel. Without fuel, all humanitarian operations will stop, and the closure of the borders also hinders the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
He continued, “At a time when fragile humanitarian operations urgently need to expand, the Rafah military operation further limits our ability to reach thousands of people, who live in miserable conditions without sufficient food, sanitation, health services, and security.”
Ghebreyesus called for an immediate halt to what is happening in Gaza.
Yesterday morning, Tuesday, Israel announced the invasion of the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing between Gaza and Egypt, as part of what is claimed to be an ongoing limited-scale operation in Rafah, which included ground incursions and air strikes.
Since October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza, leaving about 113,000 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 despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and also despite the International Court of Justice demanding immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.