Palestinians Say, “The Dead Are The Luckiest” (image@Motaz Azaiza)
Gaza, the once beautiful sun kissed coastal enclave has become unrecognizable, as the brutal and indiscriminate Israel bombing has turned it into a grave yard. Famine is hitting hard on the civilian population. It has become a reality for the trapped Palestinians. The smell of death follows them everywhere like shadow.
With no access to the necessary medical care, food, fuel, water, electricity, added with the third-degree burns and injuries from the Israeli strikes, Palestinians say, “the dead are the luckiest”.
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There is no cash, no income, nothing. Everything is blank for the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has targeted banks and business services to a point that they were either destroyed or cannot be operated anymore.
With the ability to create anything out of nothing, hungry Gazans has turned to leaves and animal feeds to feed their loved ones. From women, men, children, medical workers, rescue workers, journalists, and ambulance drivers, no one is spared from the death sentence of starvation.
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With only countable figures of supplies left, famine, malnutrition and deadly infectious diseases are coming for the Palestinians hand in hand.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has suspended everything that is necessary for the Palestinians to survive. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said “there will be no water, no food, no electricity. Everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly”.
Before October 7th, 500 hundred trucks of humanitarian aid would enter Gaza daily, most of the population of Gaza depended on the aids for survival, since Israeli occupation force has been squeezing the enclave with tight restriction on what to enter and what not to. Even water was allowed according to Israeli whims.
The aid was completely stopped for major parts of the war which has crossed 100 days. Heeding to the international pressure, Israel begrudgingly agreed to allow the aid trucks to enter Gaza. UN agencies constantly blamed Israel of blocking the entry of Gaza. Since the beginning of this year, only 10 aid trucks were allowed into the north of the besieged enclave.
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The situation in northern Gaza is sinking. World Food Programme said they are suspending the food delivery to north of Gaza, citing the gunfire and “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”.
In January, the International Court of Justice has asked Israel to take immediate and effective steps to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza, in a verdict after South Africa went to the apex court accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Strip.
However, Palestinians said nothing has changed. Proper food has become distant memory for the starving population. Meat and diary products are found either reduced greatly in quantity or extremely expensive.
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Water scarcity has forced Palestinians including children to take in contaminated water. drinking polluted water has become a norm for Gazans, paving way for bacterial infections to thrive. Across Gaza, infrastructures have been destroyed, including sewage systems. This resulted in the sewage water to seep into streets causing the growing respiratory diseases. Adding to the pile of misery, the smell of the decomposed bodies of dead under the rubbles and streets pollutes the air, causing the risk of transmission of bacterial diseases.
There are no enough hospital facilities in Gaza. The Israeli occupation has been targeting hospitals claiming it to be Hamas hiding points, yet no credible proof for their claim could be provided by Benjamin Netanyahu and his forces.
World Health organisation said the destruction caused by the Israeli bombing around Gaza hospital was “indescribable”.
Everyone in #Gaza is hungry. Many are starving.
Infectious diseases are spreading. #Hunger is weakening people’s ability to fight off disease.
Without enough food, more people will become sick and die.
The suffering needs to end.#CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/EEQuAqzWi6
— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) February 8, 2024
If not from the brutal genocidal bombing from the Israelis, thousands of Palestinians are under the cusp of death, as hunger and diseases seep in.
