People in Gaza are rapidly running out of food, fuel and medicine because of the Israeli military’s restrictions on emergency supplies, aid agencies warned today.
Save the Children called the situation a “catastrophe” as world leaders made fresh efforts to end the violence that is reported to have claimed the lives of around 200 Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli military said today it would allow 80 lorries of humanitarian aid and vital fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip — but Oxfam warned this was “not enough at all”.
Medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres said surgical services in Gaza were “overwhelmed” by the number of people wounded in the attacks.
It is now nine days since Israel launched a military blitz on Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, but the chances of an immediate ceasefire look remote.
After a week of air strikes, Israel launched a ground offensive on Saturday, sending hundreds of troops over the border and cutting Gaza in half.
Save the Children staff in Gaza braved the fighting to deliver emergency aid packages to 6,000 people yesterday.
But the charity said its stocks were now all but gone and the Israeli military was not allowing it to send in more supplies.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Save the Children spokesman Dominic Nutt said: “We now have no supplies or very few supplies left. We can’t replenish our stocks — the pipeline has been cut.”
He added: “You’re looking at a catastrophe. It is hard to know how you would define a humanitarian disaster if this is not considered to be one.”
Mr Nutt said local Save the Children employees were suffering under the military bombardment but were better off than many Gazans because they have salaries.
The charity’s staff have been unable to wash themselves or their children for days, and two have had their homes badly damaged.
Mr Nutt said: “Hamas officials are everywhere. They live cheek by jowl with Gazan civilians — nowhere is safe.
“They’re just not safe, their children are terrified, they’re terrified.
“They can’t get out, we can’t get in. They’re pretty much fending for themselves.”
He added: “They’re living in refugee camp conditions — in some respects probably worse.”
Oxfam voiced concerns about reports that Gaza’s gas storage facility has been destroyed, leaving many families without means to cook what little food they can find.
Heating fuel is in short supply and Palestinians are on the verge of breaking up their furniture to burn to keep warm, a spokesman for the charity said.
Hospitals in Gaza City have had no electricity for 48 hours now and there are fears their over-worked generators could fail, putting lives at risk, he added.
AP