Hamas-Israel war: No Power Medicine food in gaza
The fulcrum of this unfolding drama lies in Gaza where the primary power plant ground to a halt due to fuel scarcity. Israel’s complete embargo of the region sparked by Hamas’s audacious attack on Israeli cities exacerbated the dire situation. As per the accounts of Gaza officials the enclave now teeters on the brink of a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe as the power plant grinds to a halt starved of its lifeblood – fuel.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in the wake of Hamas’s surprise attack has sworn to unleash a ground offensive in Gaza thereby ratcheting up the tension.
The complete blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on this beleaguered territory plunges the Gaza Strip into darkness a grim inevitability that looms large “within hours” due to the acute shortage of fuel for the power plant. The Palestinian voice vehemently accuses Israel of resorting to the deployment of white phosphorus bombs against civilians in Gaza’s Karama neighborhood. This incendiary charge has caused an international stir.
This is what the #occupation does to #Palestinian_children
هذا ما يفعله الاحتلال بأطفال فلسطين #Gaza_under_attack#Palestine pic.twitter.com/l5ccuYRFtk
— State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) October 11, 2023
“The Israeli occupation is resorting to the use of internationally banned white phosphorus bombs against the Palestinian populace in the Karama neighborhood in northern Gaza” asserts the Palestinian Foreign Ministry. This revelation made on a platform formerly known as Twitter adds fuel to the fire.
Rami Abdo the visionary behind the European Observatory for Human Rights has taken to another platform “X” to showcase a video clip that he claims portrays Israel’s utilization of phosphorus bombs. He claims that Israeli military forces are deploying toxic white phosphorus bombs in densely populated areas to the northwest of Gaza City.
Israeli warplanes and artillery use internationally #prohibited_white_phosphorus, destroying #Al_Karama neighborhood in the northwest of Gaza City with a continuous series of airstrikes. There are casualties and wounded, while ambulances and civil defense vehicles are unable to… pic.twitter.com/ym7zfKqIBH
— State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) October 10, 2023
Human Rights Watch a New York-based advocacy group had earlier cited reports of Israel’s use of white phosphorus bombs in Gaza during prior conflicts. According to Anadolu the use of white phosphorus weaponry to create a smokescreen and conceal troop movements holds legal acceptance. However the 1980 Geneva Convention unequivocally forbids its deployment in densely populated areas. Israel thus far remains tight-lipped regarding this allegation.
The Israeli military in swift retaliation dispatched dozens of fighter jets to strike over 200 targets overnight in a Gaza City neighborhood that according to them served as a launchpad for Hamas’s unprecedented spate of attacks. Tragically the consequences have been severe with Gaza’s health ministry reporting a death toll of at least 900 individuals and 4600 wounded in this densely populated coastal enclave.
In a harrowing twist of fate Hamas operatives from the Gaza Strip perpetrated a rampage in parts of southern Israel marking the deadliest Palestinian attack in the annals of Israel’s history. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported a weekend death toll that had soared to 1200 with a majority of the victims being innocent civilians who were either shot within the confines of their homes or on the streets or were attending an outdoor dance event. Scores of Israelis and foreign nationals were captured and paraded through Gaza as hostages their ordeal documented on social media. Hamas citing Israeli violations in the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex and escalating settler violence claimed responsibility for this attack.
The Gaza Strip now finds itself standing on the precipice of a “power plant shutdown within hours.” Al Jazeera citing the Government Media Office in Gaza articulates the looming humanitarian catastrophe as the power plant’s lights go out owing to a dearth of fuel. This grim situation engenders a humanitarian crisis that embraces the entire populace of the Gaza Strip a crisis exacerbated by the relentless aggression of the occupation forces and the obliteration of entire residential neighborhoods with massive explosives. Citizens’ homes have become the frontlines of the dirtiest collective punishment crimes against helpless civilians in contemporary history.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a dire proclamation highlights that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was already “extremely dire” before the hostilities erupted and now it stands poised to deteriorate exponentially.
Human Rights Watch condemns Israel’s call for a total siege as a form of “collective punishment” a stark violation of international law. The World Food Programme sounds the alarm pointing out that while most shops in the territory maintain a “one-month stockpile of food” these stocks face the risk of swift depletion as people stock up in fear of a prolonged conflict. Furthermore recurring electricity cuts pose the risk of food spoilage.
The predicament remains dire for Nadine and her family who grapple with the absence of water sporadic electricity and internet access. Leaving the confines of their homes to procure food has become a perilous endeavor as the region becomes increasingly dangerous. The mere sound of aircraft overhead prompts them to seek refuge under their tables.
Over 260000 individuals have been compelled to evacuate their residences in the Gaza Strip a stark consequence of relentless Israeli bombardments from the air land and sea. The United Nations reports this exodus emphasizing that the number is expected to rise further. Many have been displaced due to prior escalations preceding Saturday’s tragic events.
The Israeli military campaign has laid waste to over 1000 housing units with an additional 560 rendered uninhabitable due to severe damage as per Palestinian authorities. Close to 175500 people have sought refuge in schools run by UNRWA the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees while more than 14500 others have taken shelter in government schools. A significant number nearly 74000 have sought solace with relatives neighbors or in churches and other facilities.
The present count of displaced individuals within Gaza constitutes the highest recorded since the 50-day escalation of hostilities in 2014. Meeting basic needs has become an increasingly challenging feat for those who have not yet been displaced.
Israel’s imposition of a “complete siege” on the already besieged Gaza Strip severing the supply of essential provisions such as food water fuel and electricity has been deemed a contravention of international humanitarian law by UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk.
Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital is grappling with dwindling medical supplies including oxygen further exacerbating the dire situation.
Israel in a startling turn of events finds itself reeling from Hamas’s audacious multi-pronged assault a striking analogy drawn to the 9/11 attacks on the United States. This unforeseen onslaught took Israeli forces by surprise with their unpreparedness laid bare. Soldiers stationed along the sophisticated security barrier around Gaza have recounted how the attack commenced with a strategic disabling of observation cameras and communication networks.
The threat of a multi-front war now looms large with three days of clashes along the northern border with Lebanon adding to Israel’s predicament. The exchange of fire between Israel and forces in Syria a first since the Hamas attack was spurred by munitions fired towards the Golan Heights an area occupied by Israel since 1967.
Mourners in the southern Lebanese village of Khirbet Selm bore the caskets of two fighters killed in Israeli strikes draped in yellow Hezbollah flags. The Iran-backed Hezbollah movement reported a third fighter also lost. Meanwhile the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades asserted their involvement in a fresh rocket salvo from southern Lebanon towards Israel.
The situation has spiraled into what some describe as a state of war as instability reverberates across the region.
Unrest has surged in the West Bank where 15 Palestinians have met a tragic fate since Saturday.
Amid these turbulent times Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for an “emergency government of national unity” in a bid to unify a divided nation further underscored by his administration’s proposal for judicial reforms earlier this year.
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