the humanitarian situation worsens in Gaza, despite international pressure

The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for the “immediate” and “large-scale” delivery of humanitarian aid. But Gazan civilians still lack everything.

Despite international pressure for a ceasefire, bombings continue in the Gaza Strip. On the morning of Monday, December 25, the center of the Palestinian enclave was targeted with around fifty successive strikes by the Israeli army.

This is unprecedented in this area of ​​the central Gaza Strip. Residents of Nuseirat speak of a belt of shelling for more than an hour and many people still remain under the rubble. The results are therefore still very provisional. During the night from Sunday to Monday, the south of the Gaza Strip was particularly affected, notably the town of Khan Younes where there are still thousands of displaced people.

Residents sleep in their cars

At least 70 people were killed in a strike in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp on Sunday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas talks about‘”a horrible massacre” and denounces a new war crime.

For the residents who remained there, panic and total confusion reigned. Many then left their homes, became forcibly displaced and headed to Rafah where they set up tents. Some sometimes slept in their cars, due to lack of space in this town in the far south of the Gaza Strip. In this area, the inhabitants fear it: the army will arrive, little by little, to this town as well. “We no longer know what to do or where to go, there is no safe place in Gaza now,” confide residents.

Risk of starvation

The humanitarian situation there is getting worse and worse. Indeed, despite the vote on Friday December 22 by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling for the delivery “immediate” And “in large scale” humanitarian aid, civilians still lack everything. The arrival of trucks is still happening in trickles and this is insufficient given the needs on site.

UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, helps the majority of the nearly 2 million displaced people, but the agency concentrates its operations in Rafah, in the south. It only managed to reach the city of Gaza, in the North, “sometimes” since the end of the truce at the beginning of December.

Even the center of the enclave and the town of Khan Younès, to the south, are difficult to access. Before the war, two thirds of the population depended on humanitarian aid and more than 60% of the population was already food insecure. Now, with food becoming increasingly scarce, the UN is talking about food insecurity and the risk of famine within the next six weeks.