The situation of the people in Gaza is getting worse

While attempts are being made on the international stage to negotiate a ceasefire in the Middle East, the situation for the people in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly dire. Food is no longer delivered to the north.

There are hardly any tight windows left in the north of the Gaza Strip. Stoves don’t work, so this family man builds a fire over an improvised fireplace. Sitting next to the Palestinian are his two sons, aged five and ten. “We make fires to keep warm, we suffer from the cold here, everything is open around us,” says the father.

It’s not healthy, but they have no other choice: “Look at my hands, how ruined they are from breaking firewood. I’m not used to any of this, I’ve spent my life in offices. I was the manager of an aluminum company. And look at me now.”

One in six toddlers is malnourished

The man in northern Gaza is frying some vegetables. His little son, sitting on a sofa, looks blank. You can count the few pieces of carrot in the large pot on two hands. UN officials recently warned of an extreme increase in preventable deaths among children. Hunger and infectious diseases are a deadly combination.

“This soup consists of water, a potato, some pepper and a carrot. We found that. There was nothing on the market. My children will eat the soup and it will last until tomorrow morning. There is nothing else.” When asked if there is any bread with the soup, he answers: “No. Of course there is no bread. There is only a spoon with the soup. My eyes burn from the fire that I make every day. They already hurt. “

A few days ago, the United Nations World Food Program announced that it would no longer deliver food to the north of the Gaza Strip: it was too dangerous. Riots broke out at the distribution and people fought over food. Shots were fired. The World Health Organization said one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished in northern Gaza.

Air strikes also in southern Gaza

In the south of the Gaza Strip the supply situation is somewhat better. But here too, people fear for their lives. In Rafah, the city where over a million Palestinians seek refuge, a mosque was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Israel has in the past emphasized attacking Hamas targets.

Recordings of one ARD-Employees show how two small children sweep dust out of their apartment. The boys are about four or five years old. The house is little more than a skeleton, the facade is missing. Residents say they were warned about the Israeli army’s airstrike. But the air strikes had already taken place before the announced deadline of 15 minutes.

A man lost his home in the attack. He couldn’t take anything with him from the apartment. “Nothing at all. Just my soul. We got the children safe and my father, he’s an old man. As you can see, we have nothing else. Our house is destroyed.”

International efforts have so far been unsuccessful

Many thousands of kilometers from Gaza, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken appeared before the press in Brazil during a G20 meeting. He tried to spread at least some optimism. “We are working hard to facilitate an agreement that allows for the release of remaining Israeli hostages – and a longer humanitarian ceasefire,” said Blinken.

Negotiations are underway in Paris at the weekend in which, in addition to France and the USA, Israel, Egypt and Qatar are involved. An agreement between Israel and Hamas: That is the goal. It could finally allow more aid deliveries to reach the people of Gaza.