Gaza City municipality warns of deepening hunger crisis
Gaza City, Palestine - The Gaza City municipality has voiced deep concern over the rapidly worsening hunger crisis claiming the lives of many Palestinians, amid a drastic reduction in water supply to a mere two litres per person daily.
“We caution against further deaths due to hunger and thirst in northern Gaza, should the severe humanitarian crisis persist,” municipal spokesman Husni Mahna told Anadolu.
Mahna emphasised the crucial role of food and relief aid reaching Gaza and the north but highlighted its ‘ inadequacy in meeting citizens’ needs’.
Regarding water supply, the spokesman said that the per capita allocation in Gaza City has dwindled to only two litres daily, down from 90 litres ‘before the genocide war’. The Palestinian official attributed this severe shortage to extensive damage inflicted on water facilities by intense Israeli targeting of municipal infrastructure.
He revealed that the Israeli army destroyed 40 water wells, nine reservoirs, 42km (26.1 miles) of water networks, and 500 different-sized stopcocks, exacerbating the crisis.
Mahna pointed out that Gaza City has not received any fuel supplies since early November, stressing the urgency of providing municipalities with the necessary fuel for water pumping, sewage treatment, waste collection, and opening streets blocked by rubble. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians were killed and injured in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as Muslims began the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Casualties were reported as Israeli fighter jets and shelling targeted houses in the Zaytoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, as well as areas in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces also bombed agricultural land in the Salam neighbourhood of the city of Rafah.
Warplanes also targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, and the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an October 7 cross-border attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 people were killed.
Nearly 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 72,700 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
UN chief calls for ceasefire
As Muslims began the holy month of Ramadan, the UN chief on Monday reiterated his call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and urged actions to avoid further ‘preventable’ deaths.
“Yet even though Ramadan has begun - the killing, bombing and bloodshed continue in Gaza,” Antonio Guterres said at a press encounter.
“My strongest appeal today is to honour the spirit of Ramadan by silencing the guns - and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required,” said Guterres.
He also called for an ‘immediate release of all hostages’ taken by Hamas.
“We must act to avoid more preventable deaths,” he said.
“We have witnessed month after month of civilian killing and destruction at a level that is unprecedented in all my years as Secretary-general,” he added.
On life-saving aid, Guterres said it is ‘coming in trickles – if it comes at all’, and asserted that ‘international humanitarian law lies in tatters’.
He further warned of the dire consequences of a potential Israeli assault on Rafah, cautioning that such an action could further exacerbate the suffering of the people in Gaza.
“For months, leaders have appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate release of all hostages. But the most compelling calls have come from the families of the victims of this war,” he said.
Guterres called on all parties to ‘hear and heed’ the voices of those families of victims and stressed that ‘desperate civilians need action - immediate action’. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan could be a ‘good opportunity’ for a ceasefire to take place in Gaza, the UN secretary-general said.
My strongest appeal today is to honour the spirit of Ramadan by silencing the guns - and removing all obstacles to ensure the delivery of lifesaving aid at the speed and massive scale required ANTONIO GUTERRES