Latest news with #PNGO
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
An Environmental Crisis Haunts the Ruins of Gaza
The bombardment of Gaza has left contaminated soil, blackened water and mounds of garbage spreading disease and pollution; a toxic legacy that will last generations, and extend beyond its borders. By Fadwa Hodali Caroline Alexander Denise Lu Before the war, Souk Feras in central Gaza City was packed with rows of small shops and stalls where people came to haggle for fresh local produce: olives, tomatoes and peaches. Today, the market has been replaced by a landfill. Souk Feras now holds around 200,000 metric tons of trash, according to Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO's Network, PNGO, who is based in Gaza. Shawa is working with municipalities and United Nations agencies to try to identify new landfill sites, but he says that's not easy — around 45% of Gaza City has been forcibly evacuated, the rest is now effectively inaccessible. Fuel is scarce and roads are destroyed. The trash is 'piling up uncontrollably,' he said. 'The landfills are located right among the population who live in tents, without hygiene supplies or water,' Shawa said. 'There's no medication or medical support. It's painful now, but it's going to leave long-term effects on public health.' Souk Feras is one of nearly 350 sites in Gaza where waste has been piling up since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of high resolution satellite imagery from June 2025. In total, these new trash sites cover more than 1 square kilometer (0.4 square miles) of land. Given the limitations of satellite imagery, this is almost certainly an undercount, and it doesn't measure the volume of trash at each site. Many of these new waste dumps are close to where people now live. Around 60% of the areas now covered in trash are close to tents and 15% are near water, sanitation or hygiene sites. After nearly two years of chaos and bombardment, the environmental cost of the war is overwhelming. Bloomberg's analysis of informal waste sites in Gaza shows how the collapse of services, damage to infrastructure and the displacement of people have led to an environmental disaster — one which is compounding the humanitarian crisis in the territory. The ever-growing piles of trash are just one part of a wider catastrophe. Satellite imagery and research by NGOs and international aid organizations show that infrastructure and services — already weak due to years of mismanagement under Hamas — have broken down or been destroyed. That has left Gaza's coastal waters clogged with human waste and industrial chemicals. The single shallow aquifer that supplies the majority of the territory's water is at risk of contamination. In the towns and cities, collapsing buildings have left at least 55 million metric tons of rubble, according to UN estimates, and released toxic dust and smoke into the air. Expended munitions have leached heavy metals and other pollutants into the soil. Israel says that it does everything it can to avoid environmental damage. 'This is a complex environmental disaster in every dimension, and its effects aren't just for today. You've got toxic leachate from the waste dripping onto people,' Shawa said. 'We've lost water wells, boreholes, and desalination stations. There's nothing left that represents life in Gaza anymore.' The conflict began after gunmen from Hamas, which ruled the strip and is designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, 50 of whom are still being held in Gaza. Israel believes fewer than half of the hostages are still alive. The fighting has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians and injured about 140,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. Experts say the toxic legacy of the war will linger for generations, overshadowing any of the plans that the region's key powers have proposed for the territory. And, it will inevitably have consequences far beyond Gaza's borders, as drug-resistant pathogens emerge from the polluted soil and unsanitary conditions, and toxic chemicals spread on the wind, in water, by migrating wildlife and the movement of people and vehicles. 'What happens in the environment in Gaza isn't restricted to Gaza,' Doug Weir, head of The Conflict and Environment Observatory, a UK-based research group, said. 'All the different issues… they rarely respect boundaries.' Black Water When Basil Yasin feels it's safe enough to leave the tented camp he reluctantly calls home, he walks along the sand dunes in Deir al-Balah to look out at the Mediterranean Sea. Before the war, Yasin, a 56-year-old environmentalist, often visited the area, in the middle of the territory's 40-kilometer-long shoreline. He felt hemmed in in Gaza City in the north or Rafah to the south, but at Deir al-Balah, he had 'a strange sense of freedom' — even as he worked at testing the water for bacteria and pollutants. Now, Yasin, a field coordinator for EcoPeace Middle East, a regional environmental organization, feels only despair. All along the coast, and especially in the afternoons when the tide is low, the water is 'blackened by raw sewage,' he said. Access to clean water has been a perennial concern in Gaza, which relies heavily on groundwater from the aquifer that runs the length of the territory. Supplies have been dwindling and deteriorating for years, mainly due to overuse. Gaza is densely populated, with 5,500 people per square kilometer before the war. As residents sunk boreholes for water and agriculture, they helped deplete the aquifer, which led to seawater intrusion. Contamination from fertilizers and pesticides from agriculture, as well as wastewater seeping from badly maintained infrastructure exacerbated the problem. Mismanagement under Hamas — and four previous rounds of conflict between the group and Israel since 2007 — meant that the water network was already in a poor state before the war. The last nearly two years of fighting have pushed the system from a slow crisis to total collapse. Within the first four months of the war, 60% of the infrastructure, including pumping stations, desalination plants and sewage treatment facilities, had been destroyed. By February 2025, virtually the entire network was out of service. The population is now crowded into areas totalling around 51 square kilometers, just 14% of the territory's land. Photos, videos and local testimony show that raw effluent and waste water flows through streets and across farmland. That mixes with heavy metals, including lead, mercury and cadmium, which have leaked from unexploded ordnance and other war remnants — in particular, the rooftop solar panels that became popular in Gaza in recent years to mitigate against chronic power outages. Suspected Contaminated Debris Detected Across Gaza Some of this toxic stew evaporates, leaving behind high concentrations of pollutants. Some of it forms large, stagnant pools in low-lying areas. About 84,000 cubic meters of sewage was ending up in the Mediterranean Sea each day in July, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Where the soil is sandy and highly permeable, pollutants seep into the aquifer, further compromising underground water reserves. Nearly all of Gaza's trees are gone — either through the Israeli aerial and ground campaigns, or because Palestinians were forced to chop them down for heating or cooking. That deforestation, together with military earthworks that have compacted the soil, is raising the risk of long-term desertification, according to UNEP. An IDF spokesperson said that the military does not intentionally harm agricultural land, tries to mitigate environmental impact 'absent operational necessity,' and 'makes great efforts to estimate and consider potential collateral damage in its strikes and operations.' Hamas routinely operates from within orchards and agricultural land, the IDF said. The scale of the bombardment has made it hard to assess the extent of the environmental damage that has been done. According to Abeer Butmeh, a coordinator at PNGO, which has offices in both Gaza and the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories, it's impossible to test water, air or soil in Gaza, and coordinating sampling with Israeli authorities is difficult. Trash Piles Found Above Gaza's Main Water Source 'In Gaza, there isn't a single device for testing,' said Butmeh, whose organization is a coalition of environmental and developmental groups, including ActionAid. 'All universities and labs were hit, leaving no laboratory operational.' Many of the territory's specialists are also gone. Yasin's other Gaza-based colleague, an engineer, was killed along with 38 other people in an airstrike that destroyed an apartment block in 2023. Yasin still receives a salary, but his work wound down about a year into the war — after the house he had just finished building for his family was flattened in the air raids. 'Safe Zones' Hani Abu Tarifa, 40, has been collecting trash for most of his life. He has moved around the strip 10 times since his home was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023, and currently lives in a tent in Al Qarara Port with his wife, four children and parents. He counts himself more fortunate than most — he still has a job. Two UN organizations — the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Unicef — are coordinating efforts to collect the trash across parts of the territory where people are allowed to shelter, paying locals to collect refuse every day with donkeys and carts and dump it as far as possible from camps in designated spots. Abu Tarifa and three others pick up small plastic bags left outside tents from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and take them to a landfill roughly a mile away. As the war has dragged on, he says he's been struck by how the type of garbage he picks up has changed. In the early days, his cart would overflow with vegetable peelings and table scraps. He'd also find food left by animals, and their excrement. But today it's mostly cans. Less than 5% of Gaza's farmland was usable for cultivation as of April, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN Satellite Center. The prices of staples have skyrocketed, with a kilogram of flour costing around $41, according to the World Food Programme. For his work collecting trash for Unicef, Abu Tarifa earns 800 shekels, or $239, every 50 days — just under $5 a day. With Israel accused by the UN and aid groups of restricting the entry of food and water, many families are surviving on just one meal a day — rice, lentils, or pasta, with no access to bread, fresh vegetables or enough protein. More than 100 aid organizations, including Oxfam International and Doctors Without Borders, said in an open letter on July 23 that 'mass starvation' was spreading in Gaza. Abu Tarifa says he rarely sees animals anymore. On days of intense shelling, trash either isn't picked up at all, or it's dumped in large containers placed in the camp, for collection later on. Before the war, garbage was collected daily, he said. 'The situation is very difficult nowadays.' The humanitarian and environmental crises in Gaza overlap and reinforce each other. Forced into refugee camps in ever shrinking 'safe zones' declared by the Israeli military, people have no choice but to dig holes for sewage that are further contaminating the groundwater supply — leading to outbreaks of waterborne diseases, including dysentery and Hepatitis A. Tents Identified Side-by-Side With Mounting Waste 'In a place like Gaza where there is such an intense humanitarian crisis, people wonder whether it's right to talk about the environment, but it's a false dichotomy,' Weir, from the Conflict and Environment Observatory, said. 'It's really clear that so much environmental damage has been caused that it is undermining the basic life support systems that people rely on — whether it's clean air, water for drinking or land for agriculture.' 'Russian Roulette' In Israel, authorities are aware that the environmental devastation in Gaza has consequences that cannot be constrained by the border fence. Hospitals are under instruction to monitor patients for so-called 'super-bugs' — bacteria, fungi, parasites or viruses that are resistant to medication. Under the protocols, war injuries are to be treated with specialized antibiotics. War is often a breeding ground for these pathogens. When people are forced from their homes into crowded and unsanitary conditions, infections spread fast. People weakened by lack of food and clean water are more susceptible to illness, and the destruction of medical infrastructure means that they receive inadequate care. Infection control, monitoring and surveillance collapses. Without access to a range of medications, doctors overuse or wrongly prescribe drugs. The destruction of war can even cause bacteria to evolve. Heavy metals are naturally antibacterial, and when they are released into the environment, bacteria exposed to them sometimes undergo genetic changes to survive. Pathogens can linger in the environment for decades after fighting ends, and people can carry them across borders. Very high levels of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, were reported in Gaza before the war by organizations including Medicins Sans Frontières. Dorit Nitzan, a professor in the School of Public Health at Israel's Ben-Gurion University said she has 'no doubt' they're even higher now. Although there haven't been many cases in Israel so far, 'we see it in the military personnel, we see it in hospitals,' she said. 'I am proud of the Israeli protocols… I think that many countries will learn from us in the near future how to manage very complicated battlefield wounds,' she said. 'What I'm worried about is Gaza.' Nitzan worked in Ukraine as a WHO emergencies director following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. She was among a group of leading Israeli health experts who last year called for a ceasefire in Gaza in an open letter published in the Haaretz newspaper, after a toddler in the Palestinian territory was partly paralyzed by the highly infectious polio virus. The letter said the case was a reminder that 'pathogens and toxic exposures know no borders.' Israel agreed to several humanitarian pauses in the fighting so that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians could be vaccinated. Environmental experts Bloomberg spoke to said that other pollutants released by the conflict can lead to public health concerns. They said that carcinogenic substances and toxic particles can rise into the atmosphere where they can be carried in the wind or fall as rain, that animals can spread contaminants, and that currents can move polluted water around the Mediterranean Sea. The cross-border nature of the crisis means that cooperation and information sharing between health authorities is vital. Health officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are still collaborating; as are UN OCHA and COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry unit overseeing civilian needs in Gaza. But officials in the region told Bloomberg that the conversations have become less warm and more complex since the war began. Decision makers are playing 'Russian roulette with health on both sides,' Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli director of EcoPeace in Tel Aviv, said. 'Animosity and a complete lack of trust has put in peril cooperation between the governments essential for water, energy, and environment issues.' The Israeli Ministry of Health didn't respond to a request for comment. Restoration During one of Yasin's last big projects for EcoPeace, in 2022, he took school groups to meet farmers in Abassan, south of Deir al-Balah, where he was concerned by irrigation with greywater — household wastewater — and the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. The teenagers, he said, enjoyed working with the farmers to help find new ways to cultivate their grains and orchards. 'Some of them became teachers and environmental engineers, imagine. The environmental and water situation was improving, and heading in the right direction — I noticed that each visit. I was really very happy.' Those fields no longer exist, and all his work on keeping Gaza's water clean is gone. 'Unfortunately everything is over,' he said. Wadi Gaza, a fragile wetland and nature reserve to the north of Deir al-Balah, had suffered from years of neglect, but grassroots projects backed by international organizations were starting to make a difference. Now, it's a wasteland. Other ecosystems across Gaza have also been destroyed, including orchards, olive groves and the vast majority of the territory's tree cover. Nearly All of Gaza's Trees Have Been Destroyed UNEP has warned that simply making a comprehensive assessment of the damage, and then removing contaminants, might take years. The UN estimated in February that the reconstruction of Gaza will cost at least $53 billion and last around a decade. Since the war began, Yasin has moved around eight times, seeking shelter. In June, he described displacement as 'a kind of living death,' but said he was resolved to stay in Gaza after the fighting ends and rebuild. As the IDF began expanding their military campaign into Deir al-Balah this week, Yasin said the extent of the destruction makes it harder for him to see a future in Gaza. 'The situation is worse than ever,' he said. 'I never imagined that it would get to this point.' Photos edited by Maria Wood With assistance from Salma El Wardany Marissa Newman Methodology Imagery Collation For comparative analysis, we constructed two strip-wide, high-resolution satellite imagery mosaics; a pre-conflict period using images from May and June 2023, and a current period with images from June 2025. Each mosaic was assembled by stitching 10 separate image acquisitions to ensure complete and cloud-free coverage, and we performed a color correction process known as histogram matching. This procedure corrects for atmospheric differences and variations in sun angle between the collects, resulting in a seamless and consisent dataset. Mapping Waste Sites We mapped waste sites in the June 2025 satellite mosaic by developing and applying a specialized deep learning model. Initial labeling was informed by geolocated sites from War and Garbage in Gaza, a July 2024 report by the peace organization PAX. Many of these sites had moved or expanded since the report's publication, and we conducted a comprehensive manual labeling effort, identifying additional sites by closely examining the satellite imagery. We then fine-tuned a ResNet18 semantic segmentation model to identify and outline areas corresponding to waste sites across the entire 2025 mosaic. Following the automated detection, every computer-generated result was manually validated to ensure the highest possible accuracy. This review process involved removing false positives, which primarily consisted of rubble fields. Our analysis cannot measure the volume of trash at a site, distinguish smaller waste sites and identify trash that is mixed directly with rubble. The resulting map of waste sites should be considered a conservative estimate, and the true extent is likely greater. Mapping Tents To map the proliferation of tents, a proxy for displaced populations, we employed a machine learning classification model. The model was trained on a multi-temporal dataset created by 'stacking' the pre-conflict (2023) and current (2025) image mosaics. Training points were manually labeled by visually identifying tents and tent clusters in the 2025 imagery. All automated detections were subjected to a rigorous manual validation process to confirm their accuracy and minimize errors.
Saba Yemen
03-06-2025
- General
- Saba Yemen
Palestinian body warns of severe famine crisis in Gaza Strip
Gaza - Saba: Amjad Al-Shawa, Director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), stated that famine is worsening at an extremely dangerous rate in the Gaza Strip, warning of its catastrophic effects on the lives of children, women, and the elderly. In a press statement on Tuesday, Al-Shawa added that the Israeli enemy is systematically targeting schools, particularly those affiliated with UNRWA, which have served as shelters for displaced Palestinians amid repeated forced evacuation orders imposed by the enemy's military. He pointed out that 90% of UNRWA schools have been targeted, along with government schools, resulting in the deaths and injuries of thousands of Palestinians. Entire families have been killed in areas where civilians sought refuge, with the Israeli enemy attacking nearly 300 schools in Gaza since the start of the aggression. Al-Shawa emphasized that the Israeli enemy continues to escalate its killing operations against the Palestinian people, whether through bombardment or the humanitarian catastrophe it has imposed on the residents of Gaza. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
See - Sada Elbalad
23-05-2025
- Health
- See - Sada Elbalad
Israeli Airstrikes Kill Over 100 in Gaza as Hospitals Become Military Targets, Says Palestinian NGO Director
Ahmed Emam Amjad Shawa, Director of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), has condemned the ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza, stating that more than 100 people — mostly women and children — have been killed in the past 24 hours as airstrikes intensify across the besieged territory. Speaking in an interview with Alqahera News Channel, Shawa accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting entire families and civilian homes without distinction. 'The occupation is systematically enforcing forced displacement,' he said, adding that Israeli forces now control between 79 and 80 percent of the Gaza Strip. 'Civilians have been pushed into less than 20 percent of the area. Northern Gaza has been entirely transformed into an uninhabitable evacuation zone.' Shawa also warned of an escalating humanitarian catastrophe as hospitals come under direct attack. He cited a recent strike on Al-Awda Hospital, where missile fire ignited fires in fuel and medicine storage facilities, hindering emergency response teams from reaching the site. He also referenced previous Israeli attacks on the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza. 'These strikes are not only war crimes; they are part of a broader strategy to forcibly evacuate civilians by dismantling the healthcare system,' Shawa said. 'Wounded individuals are left without treatment as hospitals are forced out of service, pushing Gaza's fragile health infrastructure to the brink of collapse.' He called the targeting of the health sector a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and urged the international community to act immediately. 'This is a historic responsibility,' he said, emphasizing the urgency of protecting civilians and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid. As the bombardment continues, humanitarian agencies warn that Gaza is facing a spiraling crisis with little room left for safe shelter, medicine, or medical care. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies
Time of India
06-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
As Israel blocks aid, 'reality in Gaza is indescribable'
After nearly 19 months of war, the people of are running out of ways to cope and are wary of what lies ahead. The Israeli blockade on all humanitarian and commercial supplies is now 2 months old. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now And Israeli bombardments across Gaza continue. "The reality in Gaza is indescribable," told DW by phone from Gaza City. "We live in tragedy, trying to survive without knowing whether we'll make it or not. We may survive, but our souls died a long time ago." Fear of bombing is one issue, he said; finding enough to eat is another. "We are consumed by the daily search for food, storing whatever we can for the coming days," he said. "We eat frugally, and as much as possible." Aid organizations have consistently warned that the risk of malnutrition and hunger is high as bakeries are closed, the cost of basic food items skyrockets and the borders remain shut. Markets are still selling small quantities of vegetables, but these are now unaffordable for most people. Prices have skyrocketed and many Gazans have no more income. A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes, a staple in Palestinian kitchens, now costs about 30 shekels (€7 or $7.90). This is compared to 1-3 shekels per kilo before the war. And a kilo of sugar goes for over 60 shekels. "Our lives now depend entirely on canned food, with the rare exception of some vegetables," the 44-year-old Qatawi said, adding that cooking is a challenge because of the shortage of gas. "There is no wood to light fires, so we burn whatever we can find: clothes, shoes, anything. This is our daily life." 'No safe place' "Never in Gaza's history were we in such a situation," Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), told DW by phone from Gaza City. "It's a catastrophe" "We have airstrikes, artillery, attacks on tents, on shelters," Shawa said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "There is no safe place. And then everyone is starving. Even, speaking personally, we don't know what to eat. There is almost nothing." Shawa said people felt that they were being pushed deeper and deeper into a corner with no end in sight. "And the worst thing for us as humanitarians is to feel that you are handcuffed, that you have nothing to give," Shawa said. "We do our best to give some hope here and there, but on the other hand we are part of the community and we cannot isolate ourselves from the situation." In addition, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the health care system was "on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by mass casualties and critically hindered by the full blockade that has cut off essential medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment." The recently announced that it had depleted its food stocks for Gaza and distributed its last remaining supplies to community kitchens, which serve basic meals for the most vulnerable, as well as the last of the flour to bakeries. "On March 31, all 25 -supported bakeries closed as wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out," the UN body announced in a statement. "The same week, WFP food parcels distributed to families — with two weeks of food rations — were exhausted. WFP is also deeply concerned about the severe lack of safe water and fuel for cooking — forcing people to scavenge for items to burn to cook a meal.' Living in fear As supplies dwindle, the worry about how to provide for loved ones overshadows everything, Mahmoud Hassouna, a resident of the city of in southern Gaza, told DW by phone. The 24-year-old was displaced at the beginning of the war in 2023, when his family home was destroyed by Israeli bombings. He said he spends his day moving around his family's makeshift home and helping his mother prepare meals. "We're back living on canned food again," he said. "We don't have enough money to buy vegetables, which are sold at exorbitant prices in the market." Hassouna said his job was to find firewood, which is hard to come by these days as most of the trees have been cut down or destroyed by bombing. Many people risk going into bombed-out houses to salvage any doors or wooden items. He also has to find clean drinking water and try to charge the phones nearby. The fear of bombing and displacement has become constant. "I have spent almost two years of my life under bombs, killing and death. I don't even recognize myself anymore." A ceasefire that began in January and lasted until early March brought some relief to the people of Gaza and bought time to fill the warehouses of aid organizations. However, the situation deteriorated again as soon as Israel broke the ceasefire and renewed its offensive on March 18 after the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement ended and talks on a second phase failed to take place. Before breaking the ceasefire, the Israeli government had already ordered the closure of all border crossings and halted all humanitarian and commercial deliveries into Gaza. Israel's 'maximum pressure' The blockade is part of what Israeli officials say is a "maximum pressure" strategy to force Hamas release the remaining hostages under a new temporary ceasefire agreement and ultimately topple the Palestinian militant group. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of stealing aid and using it for its own forces. Israeli media report that the security cabinet is set to approve operational plans to expand the current military offensive, including calling up tens of thousands of reservists. It not clear when such an expansion would take place. Hamas has rejected all calls for its disarmament and insists on an agreement that guarantees an end to the war. Israel launched the war after a Hamas-led terror attack on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Israeli officials say 59 hostages remain in Gaza, less than half of whom are believed to be alive. Israel retaliated immediately to the Hamas-led attack with a massive military operation and ground offensive in Gaza. The death toll in the strip has now risen to over 52,000, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said last week. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble. Strategically withholding aid? Aid groups and the accuse Israel of using humanitarian and food aid as a political tool. This is a potential war crime that affects the whole of Gaza's population of 2.2 million. This week, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher reminded Israel in a statement that "international law is unequivocal: As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in. Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip." Over the course of the war, Gaza's population has become almost entirely dependent on aid and commercial supplies from constant displacement of people and the creation of a large buffer zone held by the Israeli military in the north, along the eastern border and in the south has denied Palestinians access to Gaza's most fertile agricultural land. "Put simply, Israel is not only preventing food from entering Gaza, but has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, and cannot fish their own food,' Gavin Kelleher, a Norwegian Refugee Council aid worker recently returned from working in in Gaza, told a press briefing. Gazans say there have also been incidents of looting of warehouses and a general atmosphere of chaos and limited internal security during Israel's bombardment. OCHA reported on Thursday that "recent strikes have reportedly hit residential buildings and tents sheltering displaced people, especially in Rafah and eastern Gaza city. As of this Tuesday, our humanitarian partners estimate that more than 423,000 people in Gaza have been displaced once again, with no safe place to go." This is a nightmare for Mahmoud Hassouna. "My only wish is not to be displaced again," Hassouna said. "After that, I want this crazy war to stop."
Times of Oman
05-05-2025
- General
- Times of Oman
As Israel blocks aid, 'reality in Gaza is indescribable'
After nearly 19 months of war, the people of Gaza are running out of ways to cope and are wary of what lies ahead. The Israeli blockade on all humanitarian and commercial supplies is now 2 months old. And Israeli bombardments across Gaza continue. "The reality in Gaza is indescribable," Ahmad Qattawi told DW by phone from Gaza City. "We live in tragedy, trying to survive without knowing whether we'll make it or not. We may survive, but our souls died a long time ago." Fear of bombing is one issue, he said; finding enough to eat is another. "We are consumed by the daily search for food, storing whatever we can for the coming days," he said. "We eat frugally, and as much as possible." Aid organizations have consistently warned that the risk of malnutrition and hunger is high as bakeries are closed, the cost of basic food items skyrockets and the borders remain shut. Markets are still selling small quantities of vegetables, but these are now unaffordable for most people. Prices have skyrocketed and many Gazans have no more income. A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes, a staple in Palestinian kitchens, now costs about 30 shekels (€7 or $7.90). This is compared to 1-3 shekels per kilo before the war. And a kilo of sugar goes for over 60 shekels. "Our lives now depend entirely on canned food, with the rare exception of some vegetables," the 44-year-old Qatawi said, adding that cooking is a challenge because of the shortage of gas. "There is no wood to light fires, so we burn whatever we can find: clothes, shoes, anything. This is our daily life." 'No safe place' "Never in Gaza's history were we in such a situation," Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), told DW by phone from Gaza City. "It's a catastrophe" "We have airstrikes, artillery, attacks on tents, on shelters," Shawa said. "There is no safe place. And then everyone is starving. Even, speaking personally, we don't know what to eat. There is almost nothing." Shawa said people felt that they were being pushed deeper and deeper into a corner with no end in sight. "And the worst thing for us as humanitarians is to feel that you are handcuffed, that you have nothing to give," Shawa said. "We do our best to give some hope here and there, but on the other hand we are part of the community and we cannot isolate ourselves from the situation." In addition, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the health care system was "on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by mass casualties and critically hindered by the full blockade that has cut off essential medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment." The World Food Programme recently announced that it had depleted its food stocks for Gaza and distributed its last remaining supplies to community kitchens, which serve basic meals for the most vulnerable, as well as the last of the flour to bakeries. "On March 31, all 25 WFP-supported bakeries closed as wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out," the UN body announced in a statement. "The same week, WFP food parcels distributed to families — with two weeks of food rations — were exhausted. WFP is also deeply concerned about the severe lack of safe water and fuel for cooking — forcing people to scavenge for items to burn to cook a meal.' Living in fear As supplies dwindle, the worry about how to provide for loved ones overshadows everything, Mahmoud Hassouna, a resident of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, told DW by phone. The 24-year-old was displaced at the beginning of the war in 2023, when his family home was destroyed by Israeli bombings. He said he spends his day moving around his family's makeshift home and helping his mother prepare meals. "We're back living on canned food again," he said. "We don't have enough money to buy vegetables, which are sold at exorbitant prices in the market." Hassouna said his job was to find firewood, which is hard to come by these days as most of the trees have been cut down or destroyed by bombing. Many people risk going into bombed-out houses to salvage any doors or wooden items. He also has to find clean drinking water and try to charge the phones nearby. The fear of bombing and displacement has become constant. "I have spent almost two years of my life under bombs, killing and death. I don't even recognize myself anymore." A ceasefire that began in January and lasted until early March brought some relief to the people of Gaza and bought time to fill the warehouses of aid organizations. However, the situation deteriorated again as soon as Israel broke the ceasefire and renewed its offensive on March 18 after the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement ended and talks on a second phase failed to take place. Before breaking the ceasefire, the Israeli government had already ordered the closure of all border crossings and halted all humanitarian and commercial deliveries into Gaza. Israel's 'maximum pressure' The blockade is part of what Israeli officials say is a "maximum pressure" strategy to force Hamas release the remaining hostages under a new temporary ceasefire agreement and ultimately topple the Palestinian militant group. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of stealing aid and using it for its own forces. Israeli media report that the security cabinet is set to approve operational plans to expand the current military offensive, including calling up tens of thousands of reservists. It not clear when such an expansion would take place. Hamas has rejected all calls for its disarmament and insists on an agreement that guarantees an end to the war. Israel launched the war after a Hamas-led terror attack on October 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Israeli officials say 59 hostages remain in Gaza, less than half of whom are believed to be alive. Israel retaliated immediately to the Hamas-led attack with a massive military operation and ground offensive in Gaza. The death toll in the strip has now risen to over 52,000, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said last week. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble. Strategically withholding aid? Aid groups and the United Nations accuse Israel of using humanitarian and food aid as a political tool. This is a potential war crime that affects the whole of Gaza's population of 2.2 million. This week, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher reminded Israel in a statement that "international law is unequivocal: As the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in. Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip." Over the course of the war, Gaza's population has become almost entirely dependent on aid and commercial supplies from constant displacement of people and the creation of a large buffer zone held by the Israeli military in the north, along the eastern border and in the south has denied Palestinians access to Gaza's most fertile agricultural land. "Put simply, Israel is not only preventing food from entering Gaza, but has also engineered a situation in which Palestinians cannot grow their own food, and cannot fish their own food,' Gavin Kelleher, a Norwegian Refugee Council aid worker recently returned from working in in Gaza, told a press briefing. Gazans say there have also been incidents of looting of warehouses and a general atmosphere of chaos and limited internal security during Israel's bombardment. OCHA reported on Thursday that "recent strikes have reportedly hit residential buildings and tents sheltering displaced people, especially in Rafah and eastern Gaza city. As of this Tuesday, our humanitarian partners estimate that more than 423,000 people in Gaza have been displaced once again, with no safe place to go." This is a nightmare for Mahmoud Hassouna. "My only wish is not to be displaced again," Hassouna said. "After that, I want this crazy war to stop."
