According to the UN, around a million people have now fled from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south. The local aid organizations are sounding the alarm: there is a lack of food, water and accommodation.
Ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues to deteriorate. According to the United Nations, around a million people have now fled the northern Gaza Strip to the south. The UN Emergency Relief Office (OCHA) said water, food and fuel were running low.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that there was a threat of a “real catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was no longer able to adequately provide for the increasing number of refugees in the south of the Gaza Strip. There is a lack of space in the accommodation, water and psychological support. According to OCHA, hospitals in the Palestinian coastal strip still had 24-hour fuel reserves to run emergency generators.
These hundreds of thousands of refugees are now homeless in the south of the Gaza Strip, reports said ARD correspondent Philip Kuntschner from Tel Aviv. “There is a lack of everything there at the moment: there is a lack of food, of course there is a lack of accommodation,” he said.
Aid deliveries stand in front of a closed border crossing
Helpers are therefore hoping that the Egyptian Rafah border crossing will be opened for humanitarian deliveries. It would be the only way to get help to the coastal strip sealed off by Israel. According to the Egyptian Red Crescent, around 2,000 tons of goods are available for this purpose. The crossing was originally supposed to open in the morning, but has remained closed so far. Numerous Palestinians with dual citizenship were waiting at the border crossing for a possible exit.
Palestinians wait in the Gaza Strip at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Egypt itself called for the border crossing to be opened to enable aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip and the departure of foreigners from the Palestinian territory.
EU plans airlift
Meanwhile, the EU Commission announced that it would set up an airlift for the civilian population in Gaza. The first two flights are scheduled to take place this week. The plan is to transport essential goods such as emergency shelter, medicine and hygiene kits from the UN children’s fund UNICEF to Egypt. From there they will be taken to humanitarian organizations in Gaza.
According to information from Brussels, the operation is being organized through European civil protection. Additional supplies are available from the EU emergency stocks and can be delivered to humanitarian partners in the region upon request, it said.
Kühnert calls on Egypt to accept refugees
The SPD called on the Egyptian government to accept Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian partners should do everything “that makes it possible to open the border crossing and admit civilians into Egyptian territory,” said SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert in Berlin.
During his upcoming visit to Egypt, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also work to ensure that “concrete willingness to help” is shown in the region. According to media reports, Scholz is scheduled to travel to Israel and Egypt on Tuesday.
A total of more than 4,000 dead
Israel had asked more than a million Palestinians in the north of the coastal strip to evacuate to the south in view of a likely impending ground offensive. In response to massacres by the Islamist Hamas about a week ago, the Israeli military sealed off the Gaza Strip and launched massive air strikes on the densely populated coastal strip. According to the military, the bombing continued during the night.
Israel says it wants to destroy the Hamas ruling party in the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 people in the terrorist attack on Israel. In addition, according to the army, at least 199 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip. According to information from the Gaza Strip, the number of Palestinians killed rose to more than 2,800. The Israeli army said six senior Hamas members had been killed so far. These include members of both the military and political wings.