Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Worsens amid Water System Collapse, Israeli Starvation Tactics
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) revealed a catastrophic breakdown in Gaza's water system, which has created a dire situation as the lack of water and other basic necessities heightens amid ongoing Israeli bombings.
Ricardo Martinez, a logistic coordinator for MSF, painted a grim picture of Gaza's plight, asserting that the water system has completely collapsed. Martinez, who spent four weeks in Gaza, disclosed the severe challenges faced by residents, with most having only one liter of water daily for all purposes - drinking, washing, and cooking. Additionally, the scarcity of fuel and electricity compounds the crisis, halting crucial services like grinding mills and impeding aid distribution.
In the Rafah area near the Egypt border, starving Palestinians resorted to desperate measures, clamoring for food and supplies from aid trucks arriving through the Rafah crossing. Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud described the deteriorating situation not only for Rafah residents but also for the one million displaced Palestinians, who are grappling with hunger, thirst, and trauma amid the relentless Israeli attacks.
Mahmoud depicted a harrowing scene where people, deprived of homes, food, water, and medical supplies, resorted to scavenging aid from trucks, an act of desperation spurred by starvation.
“People are without anything – without a home, without access to food, without water and without medical supplies,” he said.
“So, the scenes at Rafah crossing are a natural response: When people starve to death, when they are hungry, this is what we will see happening.”
The United Nations issued a grave warning, highlighting the dire hunger situation in Gaza, with reports of people stopping aid trucks to immediately consume what little they find. The UN World Food Programme echoed these concerns, revealing that nearly half of Gaza's 2.3 million population faces starvation due to restricted access to supplies amid the expanding Israeli military assault.
The Rafah area, hosting a massive displaced population, remains under siege, facing Israeli airstrikes despite the overwhelming humanitarian crisis. The escalating conflict has claimed thousands of lives, injured scores, and left many trapped under debris.
In tandem, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported egregious evidence pointing to Israel's use of starvation as a wartime tactic. HRW's Omar Shakir cited deliberate blockades on food and water entry, limited humanitarian aid, destruction of essential facilities, and explicit Israeli official statements advocating the starvation of civilians for political ends.
Shakir strongly condemned this as an "abhorrent war crime," accusing the Israeli regime of deploying starvation as a leverage tool against civilians, a reprehensible strategy that intensifies the dire humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Israel's relentless bombardment has killed nearly 19,000 people, mostly women and children, and left thousands buried beneath the rubble. Gaza's dire humanitarian situation continues, with mounting accusations of Israeli deliberate starvation tactics and ongoing violence, exacerbating the crisis for Palestinian civilian population.
