Rabat – The Gaza Strip continues to suffer from dangerous shortages of food, fuel, and electricity, which Palestinian and UN officials say could lead to many deaths as Israel continues its brutal blockade and bombardments of the besieged region.
Not only are the shortages and blockades affecting the well-being of civilians who cannot find enough food or drinking water, they are also affecting the operation of critical facilities such as hospitals.
On Friday, a Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesperson in Gaza said that seven hospitals and 21 primary care health centers are “out of service,” with over 60 medical staff having been killed in the Israeli airstrikes.
Following a surprise offensive against Israel by Hamas on October 7, the occupation forces launched a devastating attack on the Gaza strip and the West Bank, killing over 4,000 Palestinian civilians so far.
The Israeli occupation is also preparing to launch a ground invasion of Gaza, which could ignite new outrage across the Arab world and the global community, who have recently been calling for an end to the war crimes in the region.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke from the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Friday, calling for a humanitarian corridor for vital supplies to make their way from Egypt to Gaza.
“We are actively engaging with all the parties, with Egypt, Israel, the United States … in order to have these trucks moving as soon as possible,” Guterres told the press.
Although Washington said an agreement was reached to allow the passage of the first 20 trucks, UN officials and activists on the ground have warned that civilians in the strip would need significantly more supplies.
“We need to build up to the 100 trucks a day that used to be the case of the aid program going into Gaza,” UN relief chief Martin Griffiths told CNN. “We need to be able to have the assurance that we can go in at scale everyday – deliberately, repetitively and reliably.”
The Israeli occupation has come under fire from across the Arab world for its targeting of civilian sites, including its bombing of the Al-Ahli Hospital on Tuesday, killing at least 500 Palestinians.
Since then, they also targeted a bakery supplying the Palestinian population with bread, and a church where a large number of displaced Palestinians had been taking shelter.
