Hayed Hamad did not want to repeat what his parents did in 1948, when they chose to flee what is now Israel to save their skins. Like the others Palestinians related to Jabaliyalargest refugee camp in the north LoopA nursery of stubborn, rebellious and proud people, it stopped following orders Israeli occupation. “I’d rather die at home “To survive in a tent in the south,” he says on the other end of the phone. What about your home saying something ’cause it’s changed since this war started 100 days ago 14 times at home, is always two steps ahead of death. But leaving the house to find something to put in his mouth becomes more painful for him every day. “You meet a lot of people who want this two or three days without eating” he says now. “There is tremendous need, people are suffering indescribably, and because it is so hard for me to say no, I often have to give what I have.”
civilian population Loop He is used to all kinds of humiliation, but there is something he has never experienced before: large-scale starvation. Last month’s United Nations report said: A quarter of Gazans suffer from severe hunger, more than half a million people. In some parts of the region, nine out of ten people go to bed without eating anything all day. One of the consequences of this full Israeli blockade, after tax hours Hamas attack on October 71,150 people lost their lives, most of them Israeli civilians. “We are fighting against these human animals”, said Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. “I ordered Strip’s full site From Gaza. “There will be no electricity, no food or fuel, everything is closed.”
The situation is particularly dramatic in the north, which has been occupied by the Israeli army since the first weeks of the conflict. Nothing and no one can enter without the permission of his soldiers, who have devastated the area with “someone”. The most violent conventional bombings in history “Modern warfare,” as many experts repeat. “Our efforts to send a convoy to the north were positively received” delays, negative and its implementation impossible conditions“, he assured before the Security Council this week, Martin GriffithsUN Chief Humanitarian Affairs Officer.
Deaths on an unprecedented scale
Only since January 1 Three of 21 convoys with food, medicine anyone This According to the UN, those preparing to distribute aid in the north received permission from the Israeli Army. “Our colleagues who managed to enter the north recently say the following: scenes of indescribable horror: Dead bodies lying on the streets and people with obvious signs of death starve to death “They attacked the trucks to find anything that would help them survive.” In conflicts that lasted more than three months, One in every 20 people on the Strip Ha dead (23,000 people), wounded (58,000) or missing According to the Ministry of Health, it is under rubble.
The north of Gaza, where the capital of one of the oldest cities in the world is located, has become an unrecognizable place. According to the Associated Press, which analyzed satellite images of the region, two-thirds of all buildings It was destroyed. “More than disappearing, it looks like a crusher has passed over them,” says Hamad, his voice breaking. “There are people who cannot find their home or even their neighborhood because there is nothing left standing that can be recognized.” His is also destroyed. Since then, he has been moving around with his family, which consists of four children and one. disabled mother-in-law They have to carry several people during the flight. everyone has it stomach flu For weeks, because there is no drinking water in Gaza.
Food prices are rising rapidly
When not moving, Hamad spends part of the day searching for food and water. not left in the north operational furnaces Since November 9th. It just stays rice at home. Occasionally he finds canned corn, beans or mushrooms. “You’re lucky if you eat once a day,” says 60-year-old Hamad. Before this war the average 500 trucks per day, necessary to eliminate deficiencies 16 years of Israeli blockade. Now they number around a hundred, and this number has increased in the last two weeks.
“Pasta No. Chicken none of them. vegetables They disappeared because all the fields in the north were uprooted and destroyed. Recently people started doing this: kill the oxen because there is no way to feed them anymore,” he says from his brother’s home in Yabalia. Since there are almost no food distribution points in the north, people go to UN schools, avoiding the army withdrawing from the center of Jabalia.
They settle on their doorstep small markets. Exchange and purchase are valid. The problem is that prices are skyrocketing and no one has been paid for four months. HE sack of flour It cost about 7 euros to replace; Today it is around 170 euros. “We all Going into debt to survive. “I don’t know how we can repay this because we are left homeless, unemployed and without an economy,” says this translator who also works with foreign journalists.
The use of hunger as a weapon of war
Human Rights Watch reminded us a few days ago: “Israel is using Israel. The use of hunger as a weapon of war”, as its lawyers repeated before the hearing this week, a charge the Jewish State has denied. International Court of Justice in The Haguewhere one is judged by one person genocide claim. His attack doesn’t stop and neither do his intentions Benjamin Netanyahu As ‘The Times of Israel’ published a few weeks ago, the Minister of Strategic Affairs ordered Ron Dermer to ‘minimise’ the population of Gaza.
The UN sounded the alarm: “Conditions on the ground are dire: shelters are overflowing, food and water are running out, and The risk of famine is increasing day by day” said UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Griffiths.