More than 1,000 doctors and nurses have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza over the past year, according to Hamas-run health authorities. “ In a statement, the authorities claimed that more than 310 other medical personnel were “arrested, tortured and executed in prisons”. They accused the Israeli army of blocking the entry of medical supplies and health delegations and bombing, besieging and storming hospitals.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital, who was injured in an Israeli drone strike which killed two people on Saturday, said: “We will continue to offer humanitarian care, no matter what.” He accused the Israeli army of targeting the hospital, its workers and himself. “God willing, I will heal and continue to provide care,” he said in a video circulated on social media. Last month his son was killed in an Israeli attack.
There are three partially functioning hospitals in northern Gaza.
Unrwa, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, reported that food supplies entering Gaza meet 6 per cent of needs. Speaking from Gaza city, Unrwa spokeswoman Louise Wateridge told the BBC that bakeries have been forced to close due to the lack of affordable flour. Ms Wateridge said: “The situation in the Gaza Strip is worse than it’s ever been. We are seeing people fighting over pieces of bread.” She said there was “relentless bombing [and] the people have no shelter, food or clean water.”
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The low volume of aid entering Gaza, attacks on convoys in the absence of lack of security, and dangers faced by aid workers combine to deny desperate people of the aid they need, she said, adding: “We have never been far from a looming famine.” Ms Wateridge said an immediate ceasefire was the only way to improve Gaza’s dire conditions.
Cold and heavy rain have added to the suffering of displaced Palestinians across Gaza. Rain has flooded and wrecked tents, destroyed food and damaged mattresses and luggage. “The current situation signals a real humanitarian catastrophe if immediate intervention does not take place,” Hamas civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal warned. He appealed to the UN and the international community to provide new tents and caravans for winter.
The situation for 50,000-75,000 Palestinians in the north of Gaza, where Israel is conducting ground operations, is reported by relief agencies to be worse than in the centre and the south. According to the Save the Children charity, about 130,000 children under the age of 10 have been trapped for 50 days in areas in northern Gaza that are almost entirely inaccessible to aid workers and not receiving food or medical supplies despite warnings of famine. The agency said it had been unable to deliver food parcels for 5,000 families along with 725 hygiene kits for seven weeks as the entry of aid hit an “all-time low”.
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