Middle East conflict
Aid organization: Unspeakable suffering in the Gaza Strip
According to UN figures, half of the population in the Gaza Strip is now starving. photo
© Fatima Shbair/AP/dpa
No water, no electricity, no medical care: the situation in the Gaza Strip is extremely critical. Children and young people are particularly affected. An aid organization is now sounding the alarm.
Against the horrific suffering of the civilian population Aid organizations now also feel powerless in the Gaza Strip. “Right now, with all the violence, attacks and shelling, we cannot go out and deliver safely,” Save The Children President Janti Soeripto said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The children who are still alive drink dirty water due to a lack of drinking water. With the onset of winter and heavy rains, sewage washed onto the streets. “There is no food, no electricity, and most hospitals are no longer functioning,” said Soeripto. “It is essentially unspeakable what is happening before our eyes.”
The danger also increases for helpers
It was an “incredible humanitarian catastrophe,” she said. During the recent week-long ceasefire, not enough aid supplies still reached the Gaza Strip, but at least some supplies were able to reach the north. But now that the fighting has become even more intense, the aid workers are no longer safe.
You also can’t ask families to get help themselves because it’s not safe for them either. “Humanitarian organizations cannot help the people of Gaza and children in the current situation,” said Soeripto.
According to the United Nations, half of the population in the Gaza Strip is now starving. Before the war that had been raging for more than two months began, around two million people lived in the area sealed off by Israel, which is only slightly larger than Munich. Around half of these were children and young people.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other groups on October 7th in Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. More than 1,200 people were killed in the unprecedented terrorist attacks.
Israel then began massive air strikes and, since the end of October, a ground offensive in the area. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, around 18,000 people have now been killed and more than 49,200 injured.