Gaza: closure of crossings again blocks humanitarian aid

Three days of fuel and Gaza hospitals will come to a halt. This is one of the heavy consequences of the closure of the crossings decided by Israel after the start of the offensive against Iran. If the slow and inadequate reopening of the traffic of people and goods, following the truce agreement, had brought relief to the population of the Strip, the recent blockade raises the bars of the great open-air prison once again.

Raising the alarm is the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which warned that the ongoing regional escalation is directly affecting the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The rotation of UN personnel has been postponed, as well as that of the NGOs on the ground, and fuel consumption has been rationed, with repercussions on the functioning of health facilities, water desalination plants, and bakery operations. Something, however, could change as early as today. Cogat has announced the opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing for the gradual entry of humanitarian aid. 'For us it is urgent and we need to get the supplies in as quickly as possible,' said Samer Abdel Jaber, regional director of the UN World Food Programme for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Also planned, according to the Ocha newsletter, is the entry of 14 trucks of fuel destined for the UN and its partners in the Strip.

But also weighing on the population are the prices. "At the news of the new closure of the crossings," explains Riccardo Sartori, Emergency's nurse in Deir al-Balah, "and mindful of the great famine already suffered, people went en masse to the market to buy as much food and basic necessities as possible. The consequence was that prices soared. A kilo of tomatoes, which a week ago cost five shekels, now costs 15 shekels'. But medicines are also lacking. The gradual and limited restart of the traffic had allowed minimal quantities to arrive, but today even those are missing. "There are drugs that have already run out and others that will run out soon," explains Sartori. "We no longer have those for Parkinson's, anti-inflammatories and painkillers, and we are at the end of stocks of those against hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Antibiotics are also in short supply, so we often prescribe the second or third choice, in the absence of specific ones'.

The living conditions of the population remain dramatic. Ninety per cent of the inhabitants are displaced and largely live in tents with precarious hygienic conditions, often camped at the edge of huge rubbish dumps, leading to an increase in disease. Only 260 of the 690 health points in the Strip are functioning, but most are partially operational. There is also a huge space problem. If 50% of the population, some 2 million people, live in 50% of the Strip - the rest is occupied by Israel - this half has to be shared with the huge amount of rubbish and rubble. Inadequate nutrition also remains a problem: 4.4% of children show signs of severe or moderate malnutrition.

The death toll is still rising. Yesterday's last update, which counted the death toll for the past 24 hours, reported 18 bodies arriving at hospitals along with two wounded. Since the beginning of the war, the total number has reached 72,116, while 631 Palestinians have been killed since the cease-fire.