Gaza Facing “Real Catastrophe” in Next 24 Hours
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 16: As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah not to “test us” in the north, the World Health Organization on Monday warned there were only “24 hours of water, electricity and fuel left” in the Gaza Strip before “a real catastrophe” sets in.
Shocked by the assault by Hamas on towns and villages killing and kidnapping Israeli citizens, Israel is carrying out one of the most intense bombardment Gaza has ever seen, has imposed a strict blockade, and is preparing a ground invasion.
Hundreds of metric tons of aid from several countries have been held up in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula for days pending a deal for its safe delivery to Gaza and the evacuation of some foreign passport holders through the Rafah crossing.
An Egyptian-controlled border crossing into Gaza is expected to reopen amid diplomatic efforts to get aid into the Hamas-controlled strip that has been under intense Israeli bombing. Israel has asked the exhausted Gazans to evacuate to South, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the besieged enclave that is home to more than two million people. Hamas, which runs Gaza, has told people to ignore Israel’s message.
Reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip are expected to last only around 24 more hours, putting thousands of patients at risk, the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Monday. Authorities in Gaza said at least 2,670 people had so far been killed by Israel’s retaliatory strikes, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. Another 1,000 people were missing and believed to be under rubble of the building destroyed by intense Israeli bombings.
The WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Ahmed Al-Mandhari said the bombarded, besieged territory must be allowed to receive convoys of aid, currently stuck at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. If assistance does not arrive, doctors will have to “prepare death certificates for their patients,” he said.
Rocket alert sirens blared Monday in Jerusalem and several blasts were heard in the city. The army confirmed “sirens sounding in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem”, Israel’s biggest cities, while a parliament meeting starting the legislative winter session was interrupted by the rocket.
Netanyahu gave a speech in the Israeli Knesset on Monday in which he said the world needed to unite to defeat Hamas. He said “this war is also your war,” and he compared Hamas to the Nazis. Palestinians in besieged Gaza crowded into hospitals and schools on Monday, seeking shelter and running low on food and water.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to call Israeli and Arab leaders, his adviser said, amid Russian fears Israel’s Gaza offensive could trigger wider conflict in the region. Russia has repeatedly called for talks on ending the conflict, which has strained relations with long-time partner Israel and complicated ties with Iran, which backs militant group Hamas. “The President has already spoken to the president of Syria and the president of Iran,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Leaders in Qatar and Kuwait received invitations on Monday for a summit in Cairo to be held on Saturday to “discuss developments and the future of the Palestinian cause and the peace process.” State media in both countries announced the invitations a day after Cairo announced its intention to host “a regional and international summit on the future of the Palestinian cause,” during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said he would be heading to the Middle East on Tuesday to try to help negotiate aid access to the Gaza Strip. Mr Griffiths said he was hoping to hear some “good news” later Monday on aid access into the blockaded and besieged Palestinian enclave via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
“We need access for aid. We are in deep discussions with the Israelis, with the Egyptians and with others,” Mr Griffiths said in a video statement, adding that the process had been “hugely helped” by Blinken’s visit to countries in the Middle East.
“I shall be going myself tomorrow to the region to try to help in the negotiations, to try to bear witness and to express solidarity with the extraordinary courage of the many thousands of aid workers who have stayed the course,” he said.
