In the 100 days of the most aggressive war the world has seen in decades, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, 6,000 have gone missing, and 60,000 have been injured.
Tens of thousands of apartments have been either completely or partially destroyed, along with hundreds of buildings, government facilities, and service infrastructure. The remains of the streets and infrastructure of Gaza bear witness to the horrors the Strip has endured throughout the past 100 days.
Adnan Abu Hasna, a media adviser for the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency UNRWA in Gaza, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “after 100 days of war, it feels like an earthquake has struck the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death, injury, and loss of 100,000 people.”
“Two million people have been displaced, enduring extreme hardship marked by hunger, fear, cold, and a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies. Gaza is witnessing a significant increase in infectious diseases, and there are mounting concerns about the potential spread of cholera.”
Gaza residents are facing the worst humanitarian disaster the world has seen in decades and has become increasingly unsuitable for habitation, Abu Hasna said.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, deputy head of the Palestinian Government Media Office, told the Weekly that “we are already grappling with famine. The Gaza governorates require 1,300 food trucks a day to alleviate hunger. The Israeli army is exacerbating the famine and has even killed people who have attempted to get food.”
“We are sounding the alarm once again about the deliberate focus of the Israeli army on causing a famine in the Gaza governorates. This is evident in its prevention of aid, supplies, and food from reaching them, as well as its targeting of trucks. It has targeted drinking water supplies as well, causing a complete disruption of all aspects of life.”
He said Israel’s policy of inflicting starvation on Gaza poses a direct threat of death to approximately 800,000 citizens in the Gaza governorates.
This policy reveals Israel’s intention to wage a genocidal war and forcibly displace people from their homes under the threat of bombing, starvation, and thirst. Such actions constitute a clear violation of international law and international humanitarian law, Al-Thawabta stated.
“The north Gaza governorate requires 600 food trucks a day, and the Gaza governorate requires 700 trucks a day to prevent actual famine in those regions,” he added.
Al-Thawabta held the international community, the US, and the Israeli occupation accountable for the catastrophic consequences resulting from famine and thirst, emphasising that the occupation has pursued this policy since the onset of the genocidal war.
Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, told the Weekly that “as we mark the 100th day of the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza, the Strip continues to witness more massacres, destruction, and the obliteration of residential neighbourhoods.”
Israel has perpetrated nearly 2,000 massacres of families in the Gaza Strip, he said, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands. Some victims are still trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings, with ambulance and civil defence crews unable to reach them.
“The toll of the Israeli aggression has risen to 24,000 deaths and 60,317 injuries since 7 October,” Al-Qudra said, explaining that the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip make it one of the most criminal and bloody wars in history.
“The genocide has rendered one out of every 20 citizens in the Gaza Strip either a martyr, wounded, or missing,” he added.
The mayor of Gaza told the Weekly that “the occupation has deliberately destroyed economic facilities to increase unemployment, wiping out thousands of shops, infrastructure and services and demolishing tens of thousands of citizens’ homes.”
The Israeli army has targeted markets such as the Firas, Shujaiya, Bastet, Yarmouk, Sheikh Radwan, and Beach Camp Markets, in addition to food and clothing stores and building materials and crafts stores, especially on Omar, Al-Mukhtar, Al-Nasr, Al-Jalaa, and Al-Wahda streets in Gaza City.
The ultimate aim, he added, is to disrupt Gaza’s economic activity, increase poverty and unemployment, and halt construction and development in the Strip.
He called on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and bodies concerned with regional and international economic and human rights to condemn Israel’s crimes against civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip and to help the Palestinian community to obtain its rights guaranteed by international humanitarian law.
Dimitri Diliani, a member of the Revolutionary Council and spokesperson for the Democratic Reform Movement in the Palestinian Fatah Movement, said “the Israeli occupation has gone beyond any standard in its arrogance, barbarism, and brutality. It has laid bare the true face of the racist ideology on which Israeli state institutions and social concepts are built.”
“This ideology encourages the targeting of civilians in their homes, the destruction of hospitals, places of worship, and vital infrastructure, including water pipes and electricity networks. The siege imposed on Gaza constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and humanitarian values.”
“It is imperative to reexamine history to grasp the severity of the current situation. Even the devastation caused by World War II cannot be compared to the ongoing genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, considering the area and population,” Diliani said.
“The number of humanitarian aid workers, journalists, and healthcare professionals targeted and killed by the Israeli army during its war on Gaza has exceeded those seen in any other 21st-century conflict.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 January, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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