Factbox-What is the humanitarian situation in war-torn Gaza?
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians carry bags of flour they grabbed from an aid truck near an Israeli checkpoint, as Gaza residents face crisis levels of hunger, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Kosay Al N
GENEVA (Reuters) -Delivering aid to Gaza has become increasingly urgent five months into an Israeli offensive that has displaced most of the 2.3 million population, caused acute shortages of food, water and medicine and triggered a breakdown in social order.
Here are some facts about conditions in the Palestinian territory:
DISPLACEMENT
An estimated 1.7 million people, more than 75% of Gaza’s population, have been displaced, many of them forced to move repeatedly across the enclave, according to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA).
Israel last month intensified its bombardment of Rafah, a town in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt, where about 1.5 million people are estimated to be crammed.
Most people there have fled homes further north to escape Israel’s military assault, which was launched in the wake of a deadly rampage by Hamas militants in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
HUNGER, HUMANITARIAN AID
Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X on March 4, citing a WHO team that visited two hospitals.
“When children are starting to die from starvation, that should be a warning like no other,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office.
“If not now, when is the time to pull the stops, break the glass, flood Gaza with the aid that it needs?”
Israel stopped all imports of food, medicine, power and fuel into Gaza at the start of the war. Although it later let in some aid deliveries via Egypt and through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, aid groups say security checks and the difficulty of moving in a war zone have greatly hindered their operations.
United Nations organisations have said that child malnutrition levels in northern Gaza were “particularly extreme” and about three times higher than in the south of the Palestinian enclave where more aid has been available.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on March 6 the toll of Palestinians who had died of dehydration and malnutrition stood at 20. Reuters could not verify the deaths.
Israel faced pressure to do more to address the humanitarian crisis after Palestinians were killed waiting for aid in Gaza last month. Gaza health authorities said 118 people were killed, attributing the deaths to Israeli fire. Israel, which says most of the dead were trampled or run over, has pledged to investigate.
HEALTH AND HOSPITALS
The WHO says most of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have stopped working. Only 12 are partially functioning – six in the north and six in the south – and one, the Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, is considered to be minimally functional.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on March 5 that more than 8,000 people needed to be referred outside Gaza for medical treatment.
On March 3, WHO and its partners visited the Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda hospitals in northern Gaza to deliver supplies for the first time since the start of hostilities.
Both hospitals were “struggling to survive with small doses of aid keeping them barely functional enough to serve those most in need,” said Dr Ahmed Dahir, head of the WHO Gaza sub-office.
ROLE OF EGYPT, HAMAS, VIGILANTES
Egypt has channelled international aid through its border with Gaza, but has repeatedly criticised Israel for hampering deliveries, an accusation that Israel denies.
Egypt is keen to get aid into Gaza because it fears any mass displacement of Palestinians into its Sinai Peninsula.
Israel says Hamas diverts aid for its own use. Hamas denies this. It says it has no role in the distribution of goods which is the responsibility of the U.N. and the Red Crescent.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry has stopped operating normally. Its forces, offices and vehicles have repeatedly been bombed, and several high-profile leaders have been killed, including police personnel tasked with protecting aid trucks coming through the Rafah, as well as the head of the Gaza authority that manages the crossings to Israel and Egypt.
A vigilante public security group set up by armed factions in Gaza has started trying to keep order.
AIR DROPS, PRIVATE CONTRACTORS
COGAT, the Israeli military branch that handles aid transfers, says it provides coordination for aid convoys, facilitating tactical corridors, and embeds officers with units in the field to ensure passage.
In late February, Israel also began working with private contractors to deliver aid to shelters in northern Gaza.
However, COGAT spokesperson Shimon Freedman said distribution and security were ultimately up to aid agencies and the United Nations.
Countries including the U.S. have started doing air drops, which Freedman said Israel supported. The U.S. military carried out its first air drop of food to Gazans on March 2.
Aid agencies, however, say air drops supply less than trucks can carry and may not provide relief for those hardest hit.
CONDITION OF ISRAELI HOSTAGES
At least 134 captives are believed still held out of the 253 seized on Oct. 7 in a Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israeli authorities say captives are held incommunicado, with no Red Cross access.
Amit Soussana, who spent 55 days in captivity, said she was moved from place to place, always under guard by heavily armed Hamas men, given little to eat, supervised even when using the bathroom and subjected to physical and psychological violence.
One of the places where she was held was a dark, damp tunnel 40 metres underground where it was hard to breathe. Being there felt like being buried alive, she said.
Hamas’ armed wing said on March 1 that Israel’s offensive had resulted in the deaths of more than 70 captives. Israeli officials have generally declined to respond to Hamas’ public messaging on the hostages, casting it as psychological warfare.
It is not known with certainty how many are still alive.
