Despite repeated shootings, Palestinians have no option but to return to aid points
Despite the horrifying massacre that was committed earlier today in Khan Younis near the aid distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Palestinians are still gathering and willing to go.
This shows how desperate they are. This is the only way they can get food. This is the only way they can feed their families. They don’t have any other option.
Those who were wounded approaching the aid point are struggling to get treatment due to a shortage of medical supplies, which will likely cause the death toll to further rise, according to doctors at Nasser Hospital.
‘People in Gaza either die of hunger or get killed searching for food’
Crowds of desperate and hungry Palestinians walk through bombed-out neighbourhoods of what were once their homes in the northern Gaza Strip.
They start walking in the evening, hoping they can be the first to get their hands on a bag of flour. They don’t even know if the flour trucks will be there in the next few hours, or at all that day. It’s a chance, they say, they can’t miss.
Israel has recently allowed limited supplies of flour to enter the north of Gaza. There’s no clear distribution mechanism, and desperate families say they have no choice but to try and grab it directly from the trucks.
There’s barely any food left in the local market here in Gaza City. Even the little vegetables that make their way from farms in the south of Gaza are too expensive. Two pieces of tomatoes cost up to $8 – almost impossible for the majority to buy. People here say they either die of hunger or get killed searching for food.
Gaza healthcare at ‘breaking point’ as fuel runs out: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) has pleaded for fuel to be allowed into Gaza to keep its few functioning hospitals running.
“For over 100 days, no fuel has entered Gaza, and attempts to retrieve stocks from evacuation zones have been denied,” said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territory.
“Combined with critical supply shortages, this is pushing the health system closer to the brink of collapse. Without fuel, all levels of care will cease, leading to more preventable deaths and suffering.”
Peeperkorn said 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals were currently minimally to partially functional. They have a total of about 1,500 beds – about 45 percent fewer than before Israel’s war on Gaza began.
Israel continues to restrict most goods entering the besieged territory.
