ROMA – For 50 days now, the entry of any aid for the population of the Northern Strip has been prevented and there are people and especially children who are literally dying of hunger. This is the alarm raised today by OXFAMwhile there seems to be no end to the humanitarian catastrophe affecting between 50 and 75 thousand people trapped in the northern part of Gaza without food, water and electricity.
The testimonies of humanitarian workers. “The North is isolated from the rest of the world – says an operator Oxfam in Gaza – in Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun there is only chaos, hunger and death. The population is starving and no one can do anything. We are faced with an endless horror. 10 of our humanitarian workers died in the bombings – he added – and a clinic was destroyed”. Juzoorl’Ong partner in Oxfam still active in northern Gaza, reports that the recent Israeli bombings hit a refuge for displaced people managed by the same organization, one of the 15 health clinics and a warehouse for medical supplies. “Our staff is stronger than us and continues to tell us that fortunately there is still something we can do,” says Dr. Umaiyeh Khammash, director of Juzoor.
All support activities also blocked by the United Nations. The United Nations also confirms that since October 6 it has not been able to deliver food aid to northern Gaza. All bakeries are closed, programs to fight child malnutrition and support for breastfeeding mothers have been suspended. Israeli authorities have blocked all UN attempts to send medical personnel and fuel to keep water and sanitation services running.
Other testimonies from those who managed to escape. Around 100,000 people recently fled northern Gaza following forced displacement orders from the Israeli government. The operators of Oxfam have collected dramatic testimonies from people to whom the Israeli soldiers allegedly told them to “forget about North Gaza forever”. A man from Beit Hanoun said he lived in a half-destroyed school with his young son, had to remove insects from flour to make bread and light fires inside a classroom for fear of being spotted by military drones.
In wheelchair stuck in the sand. “There was an elderly man in a wheelchair – said another of the people fleeing – who was stuck in the sand. The soldiers ordered us to move forward without him.” Another staff member of Oxfamresponsible for aid distribution, reported that forced transfers to the south, in the region near Gaza City, have generated unsustainable overcrowding and that the general state is close to famine.
#North #Gaza #aid #arrived #days #thousand #people #trapped #water #food
–
