The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an unresolved breach of international humanitarian law and UN resolutions for the past 75 years. Periodic escalations of violence have resulted in civilian casualties on both sides, with a heavy impact on the Palestinian population.
A new escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which started on 7 October with Hamas's attack on towns near the Gaza border, has claimed 1,400 lives and injured more than 5,000 people in Israel and 8,005 lives, including 3,324 children, in Gaza, as well as injuring over 20,000.
While the situation for the 2.2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip was already dire before this new escalation of the conflict, the blockade imposed by Israel on 9 October that prevents food, fuel and humanitarian aid from entering the Strip and cuts off electricity and water supplies has made the situation untenable. The Israeli army's 13 October order to the population of northern Gaza, including medical workers and hospitalised patients, to flee the area and move to the south, combined with the widespread bombing of the Strip, is creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced and the number of humanitarian aid trucks that are starting to enter the region, about 20 per day compared to the usual 300, hardly make a dent in the suffering.
The conflict has brought the health system to the brink of collapse. The blockade makes it impossible to replenish supplies of medicines, medical equipment and blood, all of which are nearly completely depleted. Health workers are working in extreme conditions, surgeries are performed on hospital floors, with no operating theatres and by the light of mobile phones. Access to the wounded and sick is also extremely difficult due to extensive damage to roads from heavy shelling.
Infrastructure and health workers have been subjected to major attacks since the beginning of the escalation. Although the unprecedented attack on Al Ahli hospital has been the most devastating so far, the WHO has reported more than 115 attacks that have killed 57 health workers since the start of the escalation and 19 hospitals have been targeted, seven of which have been forced to close due to damage, lack of power and supplies and/or evacuation orders.
The WHO also cautions that a public health catastrophe is unfolding as a result of mass displacement, overcrowded shelters and the poor conditions of water and sanitation infrastructure.
This underscores the need for an immediate ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza and the unconditional protection of infrastructure and health workers, as well as civilians. The international community needs to exert maximum pressure on the warring factions to put an end to the escalating violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
All sides of the conflict must respect international humanitarian law, protect civilians, health workers and infrastructure, and ensure that humanitarian aid can enter Gaza.
Essential aid, particularly medical supplies and fuel, must urgently flow into the Gaza Strip in large enough quantities to allow hospitals, health centres, ambulances and pharmacies to continue to operate. The lives of tens of thousands of people depend on it.
It is absolutely imperative that the war ends now.