The Head of the Next Century Foundation in Gaza, our friend and colleague, senior journalist Adel Zaanoun, told us today: “Yes habibi I am OK, our family is OK, our colleagues are OK. Alhumdullilah (thanks be to God). But the situation is still very very bad. Very very dangerous everywhere. North Gaza, middle, central, and South. Everywhere is very very dangerous.”
Loss of life continues to rise as devastating news has been coming out of Gaza of the death toll when 500 were killed and many more wounded in Israel’s attack on the Al Ahli Hospital (the Baptist Hospital) in Gaza.
Award-winning journalist Wael Daddo who is a longstanding member of the NCF in Gaza, commented, “What can be said in such a scene of destroyed houses. Wherever you look, you find ruins, destruction, the smell of death, explosives, and fire. La Hawla wala qowzta Ella Bellah (There is no power but from God).
“This was a residential square, containing modern, new buildings, and beauty, where families lived, that you see now in this picture of destruction! Something that no mind can imagine”
Loss of Life
Even before the horrendous attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, in which more than 500 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured, the devastating loss of life continued to rise in Gaza with a further 70 people killed overnight as Israel conducted air raids on Gaza’s Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir el-Balah. This brought the total number of people killed in Gaza to over 2,800 including over 1,000 children even before the hospital attack. In addition, according to health officials in Gaza, nearly 11,000 people had been wounded since the start of Israel’s attacks. This figure was confirmed by Palestinian Premier Mohamed Shtayyeh (a figure not disputed by Israel). As a result of these alarming figures, it has become the deadliest war of the last five wars between Israel and Palestine and with no real ceasefire in sight, the figures will continue to rise. On the slaughter at Ahli Hospital, Jaafar El Ahmar, a senior member of the NCF in the UK, commented, “Shame on the world, shame on whoever knows or hears about it and doesn’t care. Shame especially on the elites, the thinkers who comment on every tiny incident anywhere and turn a blind eye to such a massacre”. Families took shelter in the courtyard of the hospital where they were attacked. We note of course that Israel’s spokesperson Mark Regev stated that the cause of the hospital bombing was a Hamas rocket that fell short. This remark has been echoed by some others in Israel with the rider that it was in fact a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that fell short. But this is perhaps unwittingly untrue given the context of recent events (including the frequent and arguably accidental hospital bombings by Israel in this war e.g. Al Khuds Hospital in Tel al-Hawa yesterday) and the nature of the explosion (Hamas rockets that have landed in Israel have caused considerable damage and indeed killed not infrequently – but they have never been of a payload to be capable of taking out 500 people). A Saudi diplomat told the NCF today, “The Government of Israel should apologise to put the record straight . . . Israel will lose its argument by such an attack”. The key factor, were one wanted, is that the State of Israel issued warnings that hospitals and health centres in North and central Gaza should be vacated because they would be bombed because Hamas was using them as “human shields”. The fact that people had not taken Israel at its word and remained sheltering in the hospitals was unfortunate. But to deny that Israel conducted this action could be regarded by some in the Middle East as tendencious.
Israel has also recently detained 92 Palestinians in the West Bank.
Hostages
Hostages are of course still being held in Gaza by Hamas. Abu Obeida, spokesperson for Hamas, announced yesterday that it has taken captive 200 to 250 people (it is thus far confirmed to have released just three) and said that 22 hostages were killed due to Israel’s air strikes.
Humanitarian Aid Shortages
The dire humanitarian crisis has intensified in Gaza since Israel cut off water, power and fuel supplies and continues the bombardment of Gaza. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between the 7th to 16th of October, there were over 110 attacks recorded on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza hospitals are also quickly running out of fuel and supplies. In addition, Israel is determined to block aid coming into Gaza as truckloads of humanitarian aid at Egypt’s border have been prevented from entering Gaza. As a result of this blockade, the UN has said it is unable to continue humanitarian operations in Gaza unless new humanitarian aid is allowed into the enclave. A spokesperson for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has said that “essential supplies are dwindling” and fears for their staff members as 14 of them have already lost their lives due to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Trapped in Gaza
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have told more than one million residents of northern Gaza to flee to the south using the approved ‘safe’ routes granted by the IDF. While tens of thousands have tried to flee from northern Gaza using these approved routes, airstrikes and rockets continue without pause and as a result more than 70 people, mostly women and children, were killed as they tried to evacuate. The evacuation order from the IDF has been heavily criticised by humanitarian agencies as the United Nations Human Rights Office has said that the forceable transfer of civilians by the IDF breaches international law. Residents of North Gaza are trapped in Gaza, their only option being to flee to the south and live in friends’/families’ overcrowded houses.
Egypt has opened its airport in El Arish to receive international assistance for the besieged people of Gaza, with planes arriving from Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The almost inevitable ground invasion by Israel threatens to spark further devastation.
For yesterday’s report follow this link.
The image used above is from Hosny Saleh
