Humanitarian situation in Gaza 'beyond catastrophic'

People in Gaza are facing an “unprecedented level of indignity, misery and suffering,” Secretary General at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said. 

As Israel continues to pound Gaza to devastating effect, Jagan Chapagain took to X on Saturday, describing the current situation in the Palestinian territory as “beyond catastrophic.”

“The healthcare situation is on the brink of collapse with hospitals facing desperate conditions,” Chapagain said. 

He said that “an escalating food crisis exacerbates an already dire situation,” with countless people having nothing to break their fast with in the holy month of Ramadan.

'Words can't describe catastrophe in Gaza'

The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, also says “words can’t describe” the current catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged densely populated strip.

A member of MSF, Loay Harb – one of four staff members still working in the northern part of Gaza — said in a message on X that people have no water, flour, electricity in the besieged area

At most times, people have no internet or mobile connection to communicate with the world, he said.

Nurse Harb said the clinic where he worked could only treat patients with severe burns and wounds with basic healthcare.

Northern Gaza has largely been cut off from the rest of the territory since the regime started hostilities in early October. The blockade has driven hundreds of thousands of people to the brink.

Hospitals in the area have reported some children dying of malnutrition and dehydration.

'Gaza is dust'

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Friday, "What we see in Gaza is that it's a nightmare, which is much more than a humanitarian crisis.”

“Gaza is dust,” Dominic Allen, UNFPA representative for Palestine said on Friday after he visited Gaza this week.

Dozens of Palestinian aid-seekers killed in Israeli attacks

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli attacks on people waiting for humanitarian aid in the besieged Gaza Strip.

He said that “everyone we passed, everyone we spoke to was gaunt, frail, emaciated, and hungry.”

“The doctors are reporting that they're no longer see normal-sized babies born … What they do see though, tragically, are more stillborn babies and more neonatal deaths caused in part … by malnutrition, dehydration and complications.”

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that northern Gaza in particular faces the threat of imminent famine.

According to  the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) one in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished.

"Children's malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza," UNRWA said on Saturday.

More than five months into the regime’s war on Gaza, much of the territory is now in ruins with most of its 2.3 million population displaced inside the coastal enclave.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the regime's prime minister, has now approved the military's plan for a ground invasion in Rafah, Gaza's last refuge, which has become home to over 1 million displaced people.

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