The state of the near-devastated Gaza Strip ‘makes hell look like a tea party’, a leading humanitarian doctor has claimed.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, of the Norwegian Aid Committee, said his medical colleagues have painted a “horrific scene” of what the Gaza Strip currently looks like after almost three consecutive weeks of Israeli airstrikes.
“Imagine a hospital with 5,000 to 15,000 civilian refugees, overcrowded with patients needing surgical care, and then the lights go out. I think you can imagine how difficult that is,” he told the newspaper BBC.
He laid the blame for the injuries of thousands of Gazan civilians at the feet of the IDF.
Dr. Gilbert said the stress of continued Israeli bombing has forced several pregnant women to give birth prematurely.
“It makes Dante’s Inferno look like a tea party,” he said.
Dr. Mads Gilbert said the Israeli army was responsible for the serious injuries suffered by Palestinian civilians
Overnight, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 700 people were killed in Israeli attacks
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israel has hit homes, schools, hospitals and mosques in Gaza
The Israeli army’s continued barrage of rockets has hit homes, schools, hospitals and mosques, forcing more than a million Gaza residents to flee, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Hamas claimed overnight that 80 people were killed in Israeli attacks.
Dr.’s warning Gilbert’s arrival comes at a time when the UN has warned it will be forced to halt its humanitarian aid operations in Gaza due to a lack of fuel and power supplies.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said last night: “If we do not receive urgent fuel, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip.”
In response, the Israeli military ridiculed the humanitarian organization by sharing an alleged photo of fuel tanks in the Gaza Strip in a post on Ask Hamas if you can have some.”
Last night’s death toll in Gaza was the highest in the bloodiest conflict between Israel and Hamas in decades
Israel has been bombing Gaza continuously for almost three weeks
UNRWA said: ‘If we do not receive urgent fuel, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip’
Israel also called on the top UN official, Secretary-General António Guterres, to resign after he said the bombing and refusal to allow aid trucks amounted to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
‘To alleviate the epic suffering, make relief efforts easier and safer and facilitate the release of hostages. “I reiterate my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he added.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called on Guterres to resign immediately: ‘His comments… justify terrorism and murder. It is sad that someone with such views heads an organization that emerged after the Holocaust.’
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen canceled a planned meeting with the top UN official after the diplomatic row.
The UN warned on Sunday that its humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip, the small 230-square-kilometer enclave that was home to more than two million people before the outbreak of war, would be halted within days.
The agency’s director general Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday: ‘Without fuel there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel there will be no humanitarian aid.
Top UN official Secretary-General António Guterres called on Israel to make aid delivery easier
Israel has halted deliveries to Gaza since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, and has allowed only limited aid to flow into the Strip.
The citizens of Gaza are in a dire situation, with no way to earn a living and little aid coming in
“Without fuel, we will fail the people of Gaza, whose needs are growing by the hour, under our watch. This cannot and should not happen.’
Currently, Israel controls approximately 90% of Gaza’s land and maritime borders and provides the Gaza Strip with much of its infrastructure, including electricity and water. Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border and supports the Israeli blockade, viewing Hamas as a threat to its own security and stability.
Israel has halted deliveries to Gaza since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, and has allowed only limited aid to flow into the Gaza Strip.
As a result, the small strip of land is in short supply of food, clean water, medicine, electricity and fuel, leaving the remaining citizens in a dire situation.
Several UN agencies have begged Israel to allow more aid to Gaza.
“We are on our knees asking for sustained, scaled-up and protected humanitarian operations,” said Dr. Rick Brennan, WHO Emergencies Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
A UNRWA spokesman said that before the war broke out between Hamas and Israel, 500 aid trucks entered the strip every day, at least 45 of which were carrying fuel.
The two main sources of electricity in Gaza, the Israeli power lines and the Gaza power plant, are no longer functioning. Israel immediately cut off Gaza’s electricity after the Hamas attack on October 7, while the power plant stopped working after running out of fuel.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, well over a million Gaza residents have been displaced
Thousands of civilians have died as a result of the bombing of Gaza
Medics and aid groups have alerted hospitals and are treating the thousands of people seriously injured by Israeli airstrikes
The Palestinian Civil Protection Agency said its workers are unable to find the huge number of people trapped under the rubble of their homes.
Gaza’s citizens are forced to rely on small generators, whose fuel is rapidly dwindling due to the lack of outside supplies.
Medics and aid groups have warned that hospitals treating the thousands of people seriously injured by Israeli airstrikes are on the verge of running out of power.
The lack of electricity has also hampered search and rescue efforts. The Palestinian Civil Protection Agency said its workers are unable to find the large number of people trapped under the rubble of their homes, destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, without consistent force.
Even before the latest blockade, Israel imposed a strict blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposing strict restrictions on imports and exports and controlling who could enter and leave the 141-square-kilometer area.
Before the war broke out, the World Food Program estimated that more than 60% of Gazans faced food insecurity, a problem that has only worsened since October 7, when Israel cut off supplies.
According to World Bank figures, Palestine’s food imports have grown sharply over the past decade, while the amount of food produced has declined.
Gaza’s fishing industry, which used to make up a significant part of the economy, has been restricted to just 10 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, with the Israeli navy blocking it to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the region.
According to the Palestinian Water Authority, 90% of Gaza’s freshwater supply was undrinkable before Israel sealed off the region.