Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has once again rejected aid organizations’ demands to allow fuel into the Gaza Strip. The head of the UN relief agency UNRWA speaks of an unprecedented situation in the Gaza Strip.
The UN relief agency for Palestinians UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health in Ramallah are warning of a health catastrophe.
In the afternoon’s announcement from the Ministry of Health in the occupied West Bank under Palestinian President Abbas, it was said that the high number of internally displaced persons in the Gaza Strip, the overcrowding of refuges such as schools and hospitals, and destroyed water and sewage systems had led to “thousands of respiratory cases – and diarrheal diseases”.
“Children beg for bread”
The head of the UNRWA aid agency, Philippe Lazzarini, was able to visit the south of the Gaza Strip yesterday for the first time since the devastating Hamas attack on Israel, including a school where the majority of children are. Children asked him for a drink of water and a piece of bread, said Lazzarini. “I have never seen anything like this in Gaza when I was there after a conflict.”
According to the Health Ministry of Palestinian President Abbas’s Autonomous Authority, 9,025 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip and 134 people in the occupied West Bank since the major Hamas attack on October 7th as of this morning.
Still no fuel for the Gaza Strip
Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said in the afternoon that the air force was acting with “greatest precision” in the Gaza Strip. Mistakes are not allowed. The decision remains that fuel will not be imported into Gaza. For a week now, says Halevi, it has been said that they are running out of fuel, but – literally – “they still have fuel.” It will only be delivered when it is necessary and it is ensured that “Hamas does not get the fuel.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said in a one-line statement late in the afternoon: “The prime minister has not authorized the importation of fuel into the Gaza Strip.” The UN and numerous aid organizations are pushing for fuel to be released in order to be able to maintain the hospitals and emergency services that are still functioning.
Referring to the Israeli military advance in the Gaza Strip, the Chief of General Staff said the army is besieging the city of Gaza and the troops are in very important locations within the city. “They are located and operating in Hamas’ central facilities. They are destroying underground and above-ground infrastructure,” Halevi said.
More people can leave Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, according to the border authorities in Rafah, another 400 foreigners and 60 Palestinian patients were able to leave the Gaza Strip. The young girl Shams Shaat was also able to leave the war zone with her US passport.
We were driven out of our homes. The situation in Gaza is difficult, throughout Palestine. What is shown on television is only five percent of what we go through in reality. We saw people displaced, children losing their parents, bodies burned and decapitated.
In the late afternoon there was significant rocket fire from both the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.