DAILY TRUST
The rising human cost of the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine has continued to be a cause for concern as thousands of children and women have become casualties.
According to reports, no fewer than 3,308 Palestinians, including over 1,000 children and 1,417 women, have been so far killed in Gaza.
This figure included about 500 people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike at a Gaza hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry said yesterday
The ministry said the number of casualties at the Gaza City hospital, where many civilians had sought shelter, is expected to rise.
Reports say about 10,859 people have been injured in Gaza; while another 1,200 were reported missing in the occupied West Bank.
This is even as Israel’s strikes and blockade are pushing Gaza’s essential services and resources to the brink of collapse, with attendant humanitarian crisis.
The relentless bombings of Gaza by Israel have caused widespread destruction to schools and hospitals and displaced nearly a million people, with aid agencies warning of a “catastrophic” shortage of medical supplies in the besieged enclave.
Justifying its brutal assault in the wake of Hamas attacks on October 7 that left at least 1,300 Israelis dead, Israel has since cut off water, power and fuel supplies and trapped 2.3 million people.
Similarly, 59 people were reportedly killed in the occupied West Bank and 1,000 others, including minors, missing under rubble.
The Gaza Strip is home to 2.3 million people and the United Nations has put the figure of the displaced so far at 1 million, including 84,000 pregnant women, 10 per cent of whom are expected to give birth in a few months’ time.
On the flip side, 1,400 Israelis have been reportedly killed with 3,500 injured; while 70 are being detained. Also, 250 victims are said to have been abducted by Hamas, among them 10 UK citizens and 20 US citizens.
Situation abhorrent–ICRC
As the humanitarian crisis worsens, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has described the situation in Gaza as “abhorrent”.
It said residents now scramble for basic necessities such as food and water and struggle to get medical care in hospitals at the breaking point.
This is amidst reports that Israel has ordered 1.1 million people to move from the north to the south, causing panic and misery to tens of thousands in a territory that has been facing economic stagnation due to 16 years of Israeli blockades.
Similarly, the United Kingdom-based Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) group says hospitals in Gaza are facing a “catastrophic” shortage of medical supplies, amid Israel’s total blockade.
“Emergency, trauma and surgical supplies are rapidly running out at hospitals and health partners’ warehouses, with the entry of humanitarian supplies still not possible. There is a shortage of blood and medicine is in short supply,” MAP’s advocacy and campaigns manager in the West Bank, Aseel Baidoun, reportedly said.
Due to the Gaza-wide power outage, hospitals are said to be running on external generators – a backup ticking towards its last few hours, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
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