Israeli bombardment of Gaza is destroying not only homes but also the infrastructure that supports daily life. Bombs have hit food warehouses, water desalination plants and even medical supplies, exacerbating an already dire crisis.
“This is not just a humanitarian catastrophe, it is a systematic crime,” Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network, said. “Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. It’s collective punishment.”
He said the Israeli military has also blocked the entry of basic necessities such as vaccines, medicines, food supplements and fuel, further endangering vulnerable groups, especially children and mothers. According to a UN report released in March, 92 per cent of children under the age of two and nursing mothers are not getting the nutrients they need.
Musab Islim, 28, fled his home in the Al Shujaiyya neighbourhood after the Israeli army warned of an impending ground operation. He said:
“The hardest part of war is being dragged from one place to another. Honestly, dying at home is better than being dragged out.”
Life in Gaza is “unbearable”
Islim now lives in a tent in western Gaza City with his family of eight, and he said life had become “unbearable.”
“There’s no food, no water, and even if we find anything, it’s unaffordable. This is not something anyone can survive for long. The war is getting worse every day and no one is stopping it. No one is saving us.”
According to Mrs. Al Balawi, 54, the hardest part is when her children are begging for food and there is nothing to give them. “There is nothing to alleviate their hunger. This is what we face every day.”
Most Gazans have lost their source of income. Mrs. Al Balawi’s husband worked in a factory and her son worked in a restaurant, but both businesses were destroyed in the bombing. With no cash and a market destroyed under siege, even those lucky enough to find food often face exorbitant prices.
“What the people of Gaza are living through is not only a crisis, it’s a man-made famine,” said Mr. Shawa. “This is a deliberate act of collective punishment that must be stopped.”
Water tragedy
Compounding the problem is the fact that severe water shortages have reached critical levels, with only one in 10 people now able to access safe drinking water, the UN said last month.
UN agencies estimate that 1.8 million people – more than half of them children – are in urgent need of water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.
Mr. Shawa says the effects of the Israeli blockade have affected every aspect of Palestinian life in Gaza. Disease is spreading, malnutrition is rampant and the closure of the Gaza crossings continues to choke off any remaining hope.
“I’m terrified of what’s coming,” Mrs. Al Balawi says. “If the borders don’t open soon, the famine will get worse and we will face something even darker than what we’re living now.”
Europe calls for Israel to allow aid into Gaza
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain, in a statement issued Wednesday, jointly called on Israel to adhere to international law by allowing the unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change,” the ministers said.
They called on all sides to return to a ceasefire and demanded that Hamas immediately release the remaining hostages.
On the night of April 16, an IDF strike on a building on al-Nafaq Street in the al-Tuffah area of eastern Gaza City killed 11 people, including photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, who was 26 years old, and her pregnant sister.
Fatima Hassouna was the protagonist of Iranian-French director Sepideh Farsi’s documentary film “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” which will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.
Many media outlets have written about the death of Fatima Hassouna and her relatives. CNN published a commentary by the IDF which suggested that the target of the strike was a Hamas militant.
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote on X:
“Another day another Israeli massacre. Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting war in Gaza for 18 months and was subject of new documentary, killed along with 10 members of her family.”
