Source: Mondoweiss.net
As Israel’s Gaza assault enters day 20, food, clean water, and fuel are running out. Oxfam warns “millions of civilians are being collectively punished in full view of the world, there can be no justification for using starvation as a weapon of war.”
Casualties
- 7,028 Palestinians killed in Gaza, including 2,913 children
- 103 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank
Key Developments
- Gaza has ‘virtually run out’ of clean water, according to British charity organization Oxfam.
- Palestine’s top graduate of 2023, Shaimaa Akram Saydam, is among those killed in Gaza along with her pregnant mother, reports Al Jazeera.
- Al-Wafa hospital in central Gaza is no longer functioning as a medical facility “due to the Israeli ongoing bombardment in this area,” reports Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum.
- Days after Blinken demands the channel’s coverage be ‘toned down’, Israel kills Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael El-Dahdouh’s family. He is described as “the backbone of Al Jazeera’s coverage in Gaza” by his colleagues.
- U.S. President Joe Biden casts doubt on the death toll in Gaza provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Health despite having no evidence or alternative numbers.
- 38 UNRWA employees have been killed in Gaza since October 7, half employed as teachers.
Key Statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health
- Around 45 percent of housing units have been completely and partially destroyed.
- Around 219 educational facilities have been hit by Israeli bombardment, including at least 29 UNRWA schools.
- Approximately 1.4 million people in Gaza are internally displaced.
- 24 hospitals have received evacuation notices from Israel in northern Gaza.
- Hospitals are operating at more than 150 percent of their capacity.
- At least 130 neonatal babies dependent on incubators are at risk of death due to lack of electricity.
- There are approximately 166 unsafe births taking place per day in Gaza.
- 101 health personnel have been killed by Israeli strikes, over 100 others wounded.
Gaza’s population of over 2 million, which continues to be carpet bombed, is still being denied fuel, clean water, and adequate food supply by Israel’s ongoing siege on the enclave.
The situation is “horrific” as millions are being “collectively punished in full view of the world,” says Oxfam, a British charity focused on alleviating global poverty.
“It’s estimated that only three liters of clean water are now available per person. The UN said a minimum of 15 liters a day is essential for people in the most acute humanitarian emergencies as a bare minimum,” they stated.
The statement also said that according to a UNRWA spokesperson, without clean water and fuel, some of the food allowed in on humanitarian convoys, including rice and lentils, is useless because people don’t have the clean water or fuel to prepare them. …