Discussion thread for the Hamas Attacks Israel thread, October 2023

[Banquet_Bear]

…here’s a video of Al Jazeera reporter Anas Jamal reporting on the food and water in the north.

Al Jazeera English

Hundreds of thousands of people are still trapped in the north. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, after the IDF attacked a convoy of food aid moving to the north a few weeks ago, they temporarily suspended food convoys. And when they attempted to restart it a couple of days ago, the situation had deteriorated so much that they’ve had to suspend convoys again.

So no food will be getting through to the north any time soon. I have to say it again, but this is catastrophic. People, mainly children and the already sick, have already died from starvation. But famine is inevitable.

With Gaza’s ability to produce its own food decimated by Israeli bombs, a hungry population looks for food from outside the Strip, provisions increasingly limited by Israel’s continuing blockade.

Agriculture is in ruins. Fertile areas such as Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia lie neglected, as winter rains, vital to farmers, fall unheeded. Poultry and livestock have also been destroyed, victims either directly or indirectly of the Israeli bombs.

…

Famine is a growing reality. Few supplies are left and malnutrition is growing.

…

With uncooked food common, parents, desperate to feed their starving children, feel they have no option but to give them raw food, despite the consequences of doing so.

Across the Strip, infrastructure and sewage systems have been destroyed, resulting in a free flow of sewage that contributes to growing respiratory problems as a population weakened by hunger keeps breathing. Added to that is the smell of the dead, decomposing bodies of people and animals lying scattered in the streets or under rubble, polluting the air and raising the risk of disease transmission.

…

Medical facilities in Gaza have nearly all been destroyed, leaving those injured by Israeli attacks isolated and those with more complex or chronic needs, such as prenatal care or treatments like dialysis, without proper care.

In and around Gaza City, there are only two functioning hospitals: al-Shifa Hospital and Ahli Arab Hospital. In addition to struggling with many of the same circumstances as the rest of the Strip, they struggle with the demands of hundreds of thousands of injured and sick people calling for help.

…

The outcome is predictable. Thousands are slowly dying.

In Gaza City, death and famine take hold amid Israel’s war

The death toll from starvation, disease, illness and infection will soon outpace that of the bombing. And the attack on Rafah is still to come.