August 26, 2024
Over the past
ten months, Israel has limited the area Palestinians in Gaza can live to just
11% of the 139 sq. miles narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the
United Nations, the Israeli Defense Forces issued a series of evacuation orders
to Palestinians, pushing the 2.3 million people into two overcrowded areas,
Muwasi and Deir Al-Balah. The total area of the regions dubbed humanitarian
zones in Gaza is about 15 sq. miles.
Throughout the
conflict, Israel has defined a shrinking area of Gaza as a safe zone or
humanitarian zone where Palestinians can live without fear of conflict.
However, the IDF has bombed multiple safe zones.
Palestinians and
aid agencies have argued that the Israeli instructions for reaching safe zones
are often confusing and come without enough notice. Tel Aviv has presented the
humanitarian zones as efforts to curb civilian casualties.
On Sunday,
Israel ordered the evacuation of 11 neighborhoods in Gaza.
Muwasi was a
fishing village with little infrastructure prior to October 7. Israel has
forced many of the displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza into the region,
which has turned into a massive tent city. Humanitarian agencies have complained
that Israel’s safe zones lack infrastructure and access to aid.
Since October 7,
nearly the entire population of Gaza has been forced from their home, either
fleeing Israeli bombs or IDF evacuation orders. Many Palestinians report being
displaced multiple times.
Throughout the
conflict, the IDF has destroyed vast swaths of the Strip. Additionally, Israel
has formed corridors that bisect the Strip and prevent the movement of
Palestinians. The IDF is building bases in Gaza, suggesting Tel Aviv is
plotting a longer-term occupation.
Julia
Conley
Polio
vaccines arrived in Gaza on Monday amid growing alarm over at least one
confirmed case of the previously eradicated disease, but public health
officials in the besieged enclave said they face serious challenges with
actually inoculating children there due to Israel's relentless bombardment.
With
Israel's latest evacuation order forcing Palestinians to flee al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital in Deir al-Balah—the last functioning hospital in central Gaza—and
bombings reported in Gaza City, the Gaza Health Ministry reiterated its call
for "an urgent cease-fire" to ensure medical teams can spread out
across the enclave to vaccinate 640,000 children from the disease.
The
Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) continued attacks "on healthcare
infrastructure and water supplies and ongoing aid obstruction are contributing
to a potentially catastrophic polio outbreak in Gaza," Human Rights Watch
(HRW) said Monday.
The
disease was first detected in wastewater in July, and less than a month later,
a 10-month-old child was confirmed to have the first case of polio in Gaza in
25 years. The World Health Organization confirmed last week that the child's
left leg had been paralyzed by the disease, which can invade the nervous
system. The WHO also reported on August 16 that three other children "were
showing symptoms of acute flaccid paralysis, raising concern that the virus
could be spreading among children in Gaza."
Julia
Bleckner, senior health and human rights researcher at HRW, said that "if
the Israeli government continues to block urgent aid and destroy water and
waste management infrastructure, it will facilitate the spread of a disease
that has been nearly eradicated globally.
"Israel's
partners should press the government to lift the blockade immediately and
ensure unfettered humanitarian access in Gaza to enable the timely distribution
of vaccines to contain the unfolding polio outbreak," said Bleckner.
As
Jeremy Stoner, Middle East regional director for Save the Children, said last
week, the fact that aid workers as well and other civilians are
"constantly pinballed from one place to the next" by Israel's attacks
and evacuation orders is part of why humanitarian aid can't reach those who
need it.
The
same will be true of the vaccination campaign, said humanitarian experts,
unless Israel and Hamas agree to a weeklong pause in fighting to allow families
to get to medical facilities and mobile clinics.
Journalist
Séamus Malekafzali condemned the Coordination of Government Activities in the
Territories (COGAT), Israel's humanitarian aid agency, for promoting on social
media its cooperation with WHO and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) in
delivering polio vaccines to Gaza, "all while emptying al-Aqsa Martyrs
Hospital where they could be distributed."
Bleckner
said Israel's allies, including the U.S.—the largest international funder of
the IDF, which on Monday sent its 500th military supply shipment since last
October—must "unequivocally press for an end to the siege of Gaza."
"Children
in Gaza are already suffering from starvation and rampant infectious disease as
a result of Israel's blockade and attacks on civilian infrastructure and are
now facing an unprecedented polio outbreak without vaccines to protect
them," said Bleckner.
HRW
called on countries including the U.S. to "use leverage such as targeted
sanctions and embargoes to press the Israeli government."
Dr.
Hamid Jafari, polio eradication director for the eastern Mediterranean region
for WHO, told HRW that "the impact on [the] health system, insecurity,
inaccessibility, population displacement, and shortages of medical supplies
have contributed to reduced routine immunization rates," with polio
vaccination rates falling below 90%.
Over
99% of people in Gaza were vaccinated against the disease as of 2022, the
"optimal" level, according to public health officials.
Israel's
obstruction of humanitarian aid and relentless bombings of civilian
infrastructure, including roads, have also "severely hampered" the
World Food Program's (WFP) ability to deliver relief to people who have been
deprived of clean drinking water and sufficient food.
WFP
said roads across Gaza "will become unusable" in the next two months
unless repairs can be made.
"Transporting
food, water, medicine, and hygiene equipment is critical for the survival of
communities in Gaza today and will be needed for months to come," said
Antoine Renard, WFP country director for Palestine.
Israel
first banned all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza before "imposing
onerous restrictions," as HRW said.
The
U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported earlier this
month that aid entering Gaza has plummeted by more than 50% since April, with
Israeli authorities denying access to Gaza to about a third of humanitarian
missions this month.
HRW
pointed to the International Criminal Court's current consideration of arrest
warrants for top Israeli officials for depriving civilians in Gaza of supplies
that are "indispensible to human survival," including clean water.
"Intentionally
depriving civilians of clean water is a war crime," said HRW. "The
Israeli government should immediately end its blockade of Gaza and ensure full
and unfettered humanitarian access, including access to vaccines and medicines."
Dave DeCamp
August 25, 2024
A US official told Al Arabiya that
the US helped Israel track Hezbollah rockets and drones that were fired into
Israel Sunday morning.
The official insisted the US
assistance didn’t go beyond intelligence, saying that the US was not involved
in the strikes on Lebanon and did not intercept any Hezbollah rockets or
drones.
After Israel began bombing Lebanon
early Sunday, Hezbollah announced it was launching its retaliation for the
assassination of Fuad Shukr, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut
on July 30.
The attack came as the US and Israel
are still preparing for Iran’s retaliation for the Israeli killing of Hamas’s
political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran on July 31. The US has deployed
additional fighter jets and warships to the region to defend Israel from Iran
or in the event that the conflict with Hezbollah turns into a major war.
As part of the effort, Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown made a surprise visit to the
Middle East, arriving in Jordan on Saturday. Brown told Reuters that he planned
to discuss with regional officials “the things we can do to deter any type of
broader escalation and ensure we’re taking all the appropriate steps to (avoid)
… a broader conflict.”
While the US claims it’s seeking to
ease tensions by continuing to provide Israel with military aid and pledging to
defend it from any consequences of its actions, the US has emboldened Israel to
continue its escalations.
Back in April, the US intervened to
intercept Iranian missiles and drones that were fired at Israel in response to
the Israeli bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria. The Pentagon has vowed
it’s willing to do the same thing in the event of another Iranian attack.
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