I’ve avoided writing about this because it’s so upsetting and our government is so seemingly indifferent.
Gaza is becoming uninhabitable as humanitarian conditions deteriorate rapidly following Egypt’s destruction of smuggling tunnels and Israel’s renewed ban on the import of construction materials, the United Nations and aid agencies have said.
A year after the end of the eight-day war between Gaza and Israel last November, the UN said the situation in the tiny coastal strip was worse than before the conflict. “Initial hopes for a significant improvement on the ground have not been realised,” said James Rawley, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for the Palestinian territories.
Gaza is facing a power crisis as a result of a shortage of fuel, with blackouts lasting 12-16 hours a day, according to Oxfam. Raw sewage has flooded streets in some areas of Gaza City following the closure of Gaza’s only power plant on 1 November, which made pump stations inoperative. Factories have been forced to cut production, leading to layoffs, and hospitals are running on emergency reserves.
Oxfam said only 40% of Gaza’s fuel needs were being met and consumer prices for petrol and diesel had doubled. Less than 400,000 litres of fuel a day enter Gaza through official crossings, compared with 1m litres a day that were smuggled through the tunnels.
Egypt’s closure of the tunnels has exacerbated an already precarious situation. “Ordinary people in Gaza are struggling to find work and feed their families while the blockade remains in place,” said Nishant Pandey, of Oxfam. More than 80% of Gaza’s 1.7 million inhabitants are in need of humanitarian aid and 65% of families are expected to be food insecure by the end of the year, according to the charity.
Since the tunnel closures in June, the prices of many basic foodstuffs have risen. Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said the cost of rice was up 26%, sugar 14% and sunflower oil 13%.
