The Age / AP, Reuters | Najib Jobain, Samya Kullab, Ravi Nessman | 17.10.23
Medics in Gaza have warned that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people run desperately low on fuel and basic supplies.
Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety yesterday, before an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7.
Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of US warships in the region, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and are drilling for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group.
A week of blistering airstrikes has demolished entire neighbourhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 2670 Palestinians have been killed and 9600 wounded since fighting erupted, more than in the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted more than six weeks. This is the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sides.
More than 1400 Israelis were killed, the vast majority of them civilians, in Hamas’ assault. At least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.
Israel’s Energy Minister, Israel Katz, said yesterday that a decision to partially renew water supplies to parts of southern Gaza was agreed on between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.
Katz said that the decision was in line with Israeli policy, which is to tighten a blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory.
Hospitals in Gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel within two days, endangering the lives of thousands of patients, according to the United Nations. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel completely sealed off the 40-kilometre-long territory following the Hamas attack.
In Nasser Hospital, in the southern town of Khan Younis, intensive care rooms are packed with wounded patients, most of them under the age of 3. Hundreds of people with severe blast injuries have come to the hospital, where fuel was expected to run out by tomorrow, said Dr Mohammed Qandeel, a consultant at the critical care complex.
There are 35 patients in the ICU who require ventilators and another 60 on dialysis. If fuel runs out, ‘‘it means the whole health system will be shut down’’, he said, as children moaned in pain in the background. ‘‘All these patients are in danger of death if the electricity is cut off.’’
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the head of paediatrics at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, said the facility did not evacuate despite Israeli orders. There are seven newborns in the ICU hooked up to ventilators, he said. Evacuating ‘‘would mean death for them and other patients under our care.’’
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the regional director of the World Health Organisation, said hospitals were able to move some mobile patients out of the north, but most patients can’t be evacuated, he said.
Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s largest, said it would bury 100 bodies in a mass grave as an emergency measure after its morgue overflowed. thousands of people seeking safety have gathered in the hospital compound.
Gaza was already in a humanitarian crisis due to a growing shortage of water and medical supplies caused by the Israeli siege.
‘‘An unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding under our eyes,’’ said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
Sullivan told CNN that Israeli officials told him they had turned the water back on in southern Gaza. Katz said in a statement that water had been restored at one ‘‘specific point’’ in Gaza. A spokesman said that was outside Khan Younis. Aid workers in Gaza said they had not seen evidence the water was back.
Israel has ordered more than 1 million Palestinians – almost half the territory’s population – to move south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians before a major campaign against Hamas in the north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels, bunkers and rocket launchers.
Hamas urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli military released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south.
Nevertheless, more than 600,000 people had evacuated the Gaza City area, according to Israel’s chief military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
About 500,000 people, nearly one quarter of Gaza’s population, were taking refuge in UN schools and other facilities across the territory, where water supplies were dwindling, said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency. ‘‘Gaza is running dry,’’ she said.
The agency says an estimated 1 million people have been displaced in Gaza in a single week.
The US has been trying to broker a deal to reopen Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza to allow Americans and other foreigners to leave and humanitarian aid amassed on the Egyptian side to be brought in. The crossing, which was closed because of airstrikes early in the war, has yet to reopen.
Israel has said the siege will only be lifted when the captives are returned.
Hamas rocket attacks on Israel continued yesterday, spurring a broader evacuation from the southern Israeli city of Sderot. The city of 34,000 people sits about a mile (1.6 kilometres) from Gaza and has been a frequent rocket target.
‘‘The kids are traumatised, they can’t sleep at night,’’ Yossi Edri told Channel 13 before boarding a bus.