According to Palestinian Health Ministry, 10,022 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, including 4,104 children and 2,641 women.
The ministry added that 25,408 people have also been wounded.
Reacting to this, UK-based organization, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) issued a statement saying, “Today marks a shocking milestone in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.”
It added that the grim toll was a result of Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of civilian homes, hospitals, refugee camps, and schools.
Melanie Ward, MAP’s Chief Executive Officer said that most of the dead are women and children.
“Israel’s bombardment of civilian areas in Gaza demands an immediate response from the international community, who must uphold international law. The cost of inaction is measured in lives, and we cannot allow this carnage to continue.”
Melanie Ward
Also, Fikr Shalltoot, the organization’s Gaza Director, said that Palestinians are terrified of what will come next if a ceasefire is not achieved soon.
“How many more deaths will it take for this assault to be brought to an end – 50,000, 100,000?” Shalltoot asked.
Shalltoot added, “As we witness our homes, hospitals and schools turned to rubble, we are crying out for a shred of humanity from world leaders.”
Meanwhile, Juliette Touma, Spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) noted that she lacks the words to describe what has been happening in Gaza.
“I’m not sure I have the words that will do any justice to what’s been happening or to the suffering or to the grief or to the heartache of mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and friends and fiances and husbands and wives.
“People have been through hell. It has been hell for the past one month and it continues. And every single day we descend a step … further into hell.”
Juliette Touma
Touma stated that the UNRWA is looking to expand “the humanitarian supply line” via Egypt.
The agency is also “looking at other options via road so that we’re able to bring more humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip”, including fuel.
“No fuel has come into Gaza for the past one month,” Touma told reporters, adding that the assistance that has come into the territory so far is welcome but only “a drop in the ocean.”
“It’s only 6 percent of what Gaza used to get on a daily basis and it does not [include] fuel … We are also running out of fuel at UNRWA. We need it for our own humanitarian operations.”
Juliette Touma
UN Tagged As Useless
The UN has been “utterly useless” in demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and Ukraine, Geoffrey Robertson, a human rights barrister, says.
“There is no difference between the war crimes of Putin and Netanyahu. Both are indiscriminately killing civilians and yet the UN is utterly useless,” Robertson opined.
“It is not fit for its purpose because the UN Security Council is nearly a talking shop,” he said, adding that the power to veto decisions does not help since every negotiation for a ceasefire in Ukraine has been vetoed by Russia while the US last week vetoed a ceasefire resolution in relation to Gaza.
The leaders of the UN’s major humanitarian agencies as well as international charities have called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, calling the situation “horrific” and “unacceptable” in a rare joint statement.
The signatories included the heads of OCHA, UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the WHO, Save the Children and CARE International.
They said “An entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival, bombed in their homes, shelters, hospitals and places of worship. This is unacceptable.”
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