As the world continues to watch on, Israel has intensified its bombardments of Gaza and Lebanon killing civilians and injuring hundreds including children and women. Giving least regard to international laws and conventions, the Israeli occupation forces yesterday bombed a UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip, which shelters thousands of displaced civilians, killing 25 Palestinians and injuring 150 others.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, the death toll from the ongoing Israeli genocide is 42,438 and at least 99,246 are injured. Thousands of victims remain missing under the rubble caused by the relentless bombing. Meanwhile, Lebanon said yesterday that more than 2,300 people have been killed in the past year.
The Israeli forces have been suffocating the people in Gaza with brutal assault and by not allowing any aid to reach the people. They have given scant regard to calls from various world bodies and leaders for a ceasefire. The occupiers are trying to starve the people of the Gaza Strip into death or submission by denying entry for basic aid materials.
A UN official in a desperate plea called on all countries to exert influence to allow humanitarian operations in the area. Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya stated in a briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, “The level of suffering in Gaza defies our ability to capture it in words, or even to comprehend its scale. Reality is brutal in Gaza, and it gets worse every day, as the bombs continue to fall, as fierce fighting continues unabated, and as supplies essential for people’s survival and humanitarian assistance are blocked at every turn.”
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative or IPC has released a report that states that over 1.8 million people, or around 86% of Gaza’s population, are experiencing crisis levels of hunger, defined as Phase 3 or higher on the IPC’s five-point scale. Some 133,000 people, or around 6%, are at Phase 5, the highest level, known as catastrophic hunger.
Israel has become so arrogant and disdainful that they have completely ignored all the humanitarian appeals from various international organisations. In Lebanon, they even attacked UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) in a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
The international community must come together and take bold steps to stop the brutal aggression by the Israeli occupational forces. Only strong and unified action from the world bodies and countries will stop this genocide by Israel and stop the region from spiralling into further turmoil.
