(Montreal) A Canadian stuck in the Gaza Strip says aid trucks that entered the enclave on Saturday, the first since the start of the latest war between Israel and Hamas, will do little to alleviate the humanitarian crisis Palestinians face all around him.
Mahmoud Nasser, a 30-year-old who moved from Mississauga, Ontario to Gaza City in 2021 to care for his aging father, is among those in the Palestinian territory who find themselves under Israeli bombardment. Israeli airstrikes since Hamas’ bloody rampage in southern Israel two weeks ago.
While sheltering in a house with 50 others in the southern town of Khan Yunes, Mr. Nasser said in a telephone interview that the aid that arrived in Gaza on Saturday was the first time since Israel has cut off the region from food, water and electricity, doing little to help people who are already starving and desperate for clean water.
He says finding a sip of water in Gaza continues to be a life-and-death mission for many, even as trucks full of essential supplies began returning Saturday for the first time since the start of the most recent war between Israel and Hamas.
Mr. Nasser maintains that the 20 trucks that were allowed through the Egypt-Gaza border crossing have done little to change the humanitarian crisis residents are experiencing all around them.
These deliveries represent only a fraction of the usual flow of supplies into territory currently controlled by Hamas, and more than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days. Israel cut off food, fuel and other supplies to the region and launched numerous airstrikes in response to Hamas’ deadly invasion of Israeli towns, launched on October 7. The war that followed – the last in a series of five – is already the deadliest conflict of its kind for both countries.
Mr. Nasser continues to see people openly fighting for water and food. “Water is the biggest struggle… we are in the hunt every day,” he said in a telephone interview from the town of Khan Yunes.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Citizens queue to fill containers with drinking water in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
My wife is five months pregnant and I am very worried, because today we no longer have bottled water and she drinks dirty water and I am not sure if it is hygienic… I have feels like no one cares.
Mahmoud Nasser, a Canadian stuck in Gaza
Mr. Nasser has already lost several loved ones since this war began and he expects to soon see many people who have not yet died from constant airstrikes die of starvation and dehydration if no additional help is provided. arrived.
“It’s a very strange feeling,” he says, adding that he has been privileged to be able to buy at least one or two bottles of water every day so far.
More deaths without new help
A joint statement issued by various UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), said the trucks that entered Gaza on Saturday passed through the southern border with Egypt. The groups stressed that the thousands of bottles of drinking water, food and medical supplies on board are “far from enough” for Palestinians, around a million of whom have fled their homes.
“Given the large number of civilian infrastructure damaged or destroyed in Gaza in nearly two weeks of relentless bombardment, including shelters, health centers, water, sanitation and electrical systems, time is running out before “mortality rates are skyrocketing due to epidemics and lack of health care capacity,” their statement read.
“Water production capacity is at 5% of normal levels. Pre-positioned humanitarian supplies have already been exhausted. Vulnerable people are most at risk and children are dying at alarming rates and are being denied their rights to protection, food, water and health. »
The humanitarian corridor was opened after more than a week of high-level diplomacy, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel had insisted that nothing would enter Gaza until Hamas freed all the hostages during its October 7 attack on towns in southern Israel.
Friday evening, Hamas released its first hostages: an American woman and her teenage daughter. It was not immediately clear whether there was a link between the release and the aid deliveries. Israel says Hamas still holds at least 210 hostages.
Reem Sultan, a 49-year-old resident of London, Ontario, said her cousin in Gaza cried during a phone call Saturday as he said he just wanted to give his children water . He, too, saw fights break out between those searching for scarce food, she added.
PHOTO REEM SULTAN, PROVIDED BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
London, Ontario resident Reem Sultan, seated center and wearing a blue jacket, is seen with her family on a Gaza beach in an undated photo before the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel.
The nights were also very cold, and Mme Sultan mentioned that her cousin ventured out barefoot and dodged bombs to get blankets for her shivering daughter.
I can’t believe the choices my family has to make to just survive, whether it’s water, some food from home, or just keeping them warm.
Reem Sultan, resident of London, Ontario
“This should not be happening on our watch. This is madness. It’s beyond horrible. »
Gaza authorities say more than 4,300 people have been killed in the territory since the start of this war. More than 1,400 people have died in Israel, most of them civilians killed during the deadly Hamas incursion on October 7.
With information from the Associated Press