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Gaza’s Government Media Office calls on Israel to open all crossings
The director general of Gaza’s Government Media Office has called on Israel to open the crossings and allow aid into the enclave “immediately”.
Ismail al-Thawabta told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that the US needs to apply pressure on Israel to ensure the opening of the crossings and stressed that Palestinians in the enclave were suffering from water scarcity, with the added difficulty of accessing it.
“The suffering faced by the people of Gaza over the past two years will continue after the war ends. Priority for travel when the crossing opens will be given to the sick and wounded. There are a quarter of a million tonnes of waste in the Gaza Strip, which constitutes an environmental disaster,” the director general said.
“We need heavy machinery to deal with waste, as the war has destroyed many machines,” he added.
Palestinian Authority says it is ready to operate Rafah crossing
The Palestinian Authority says it is prepared to operate the key crossing for aid between Egypt and Gaza.
“Now we are ready to engage again, and we have notified all parties that we are ready to operate the Rafah crossing,” said Mohammad Shtayyeh, former PA prime minister and member of Fatah’s Central Committee.
Trickle of aid trucks enter Gaza despite 600-truck goal
The Israeli military is still imposing restrictions on aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip. We understand that under the current terms of the agreement, at least 600 aid trucks must be allowed into the Strip every day to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
But for now, we can only see a trickle of aid making its journey to the Strip. From the early hours of this morning, only 12 [World Food Programme] aid trucks have entered the central area where we are.
We have been closely monitoring this development, and have heard from people on the ground that Gaza not only needs aid to survive, but to build the foundations of the local community that has been severely affected.
We have been told by many families that people really want fuel to re-operate hospitals, medicines to treat the wounded and even materials to rebuild their destroyed homes.
‘There is no shelter’
Israel’s war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, with nearly all inhabitants driven from their homes, a global hunger monitor saying famine was present in the enclave and health authorities overwhelmed.
“Our situation is utterly tragic,” Moemen Hassanein in Gaza City told the Reuters news agency. “We went back to our homes in al-Tuffah neighbourhood and found there are no homes at all. There is no shelter. Nothing.”
Palestinians face dire water shortages in war-ravaged Gaza City
There are still major challenges lying ahead for people coming back to Gaza City. We’re seeing people coming to check on their homes to see if there’s water, if there’s food, if there are means of life still available here.
One issue that keeps coming up for many of the displaced families is the lack of water.
We’ve heard people asking when water will be in this area. Are water tanks coming? Over the past seven days, only a couple of water trucks made it here. Compared to the number of people who returned to this area, that’s not nearly enough.
People are walking long distances to get to this area, and they don’t find water. Everywhere we go, we see people carrying plastic containers, buckets and bottles – searching for water, something that used to come just by a turn of a tap.
