The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday that at least 94 percent of all hospitals remain damaged or destroyed and only 19 of the 36 hospitals remain functional, although only partially.
“4 major hospitals have closed in the last week due to attacks, evacuation orders, and increasing hostilities. North Gaza has been stripped of nearly all health care. The few remaining hospitals in the South are overwhelmed & at imminent risk of shutting down.
“Hospitals must never be militarisedand are #NotATarget, the UN organisation said in a post on X and called for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, over 50 Palestinians were killed or remain missing after Israel bombed a residential building in Jabalia al-Balad area of Northern Gaza in the early hours of Friday, Al Jazeera reported.
Gaza’s Civil Defense, who recovered the bodies of four victims and rescued six people from under the rubble, described the scene as a ‘horrific massacre’. Videos by local journalists showed the bodies of an infant and several children recovered from the rubble. The children belonged to Dardouna family, reports said.
Airstrikes continued in Gaza city, Khan Younis, south Gaza. On Thursday, May 21, at least 85 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, local reports said.
Minimal aid allowed into Gaza:
On Wednesday, Israel allowed minimal aid trucks into the besieged enclave after blocking food, water and other essential aid from entering on March 2. United Nations has said that Gaza’s 2 million residents are at a high risk of famine.
Israeli officials on Friday said that they allowed over 100 trucks of aid to enter Gaza carrying flour, food, medicine, medical equipment through Karem shalom crossing.
UN agencies said that the level of aid being allowed in is nowhere near enough and said that 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire that lasted from January 19-March 18. Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire on March 18 to resume the bombing campaign.
The World Food Programme said that 15 of its trucks were looted on Thursday night in southern Gaza while going to WFP supported bakeries.
The WFP said that hunger is contributing to rising insecurity and urged Israel to allow greater quantities of food to be allowed in.
US backed food distribution system slammed by UN, NGOs:
Israel says the aid is to bridge the gap until a US backed initiative starts on May 24. A group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will take over aid distribution in Gaza, and armed private contractors would guard the distribution. Israel says the system is needed because Hamas siphons off significant amounts of aid. The UN denies that claim. Aid groups, many NGOs working in Gaza refused to partner with the GHF, as they already have the means to distribute the aid and the GHF does not have the experience or capacity to bring aid to over 2 million people.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said at UN Security council last week that the GHF restricts aid to only one part of Gaza while leaving other dire needs unmet. “It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is a cynical sideshow. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.”
Israel intensifies assault on Gaza:
In the latest offensive named ‘Gideon’s Chariots’, Israel has ramped up drone strikes against civilians.
The IDF said that the aim of the offensive was to expand operational control on the Gaza strip and that it also aims to free remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas. The operation also aims to displace Palestinians out of their homes and out of the Gaza strip.
Israel began its land, air, sea blockade of the strip in 2007 and it has militarily occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.
