Nearly 80 Percent of Palestinians in Gaza Have Been Displaced, UN Reports
Meanwhile, the water supply has dropped to just 17 percent of pre-siege levels, Oxfam has found.
The number of Palestinians in Gaza who have been displaced from their homes has risen to roughly 1.7 million as of November 19, according to an update from the United Nations this week. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has decried the humanitarian crisis in the region as “unparalleled.”
The number represents over three-quarters of the population of Gaza that has now been forcibly displaced by Israeli bombardment and raids over the past weeks. UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) shelters, which are housing 930,000 people across Gaza, are severely overcrowded and have seen a 35 percent increase in skin diseases and a 40 percent rise in diarrhea cases over the past two weeks, reports the agency.
The spread of disease is due to unsanitary conditions, the UNRWA said. There is on average only one shower unit per 700 people, and one toilet for every 160 people in agency shelters. This varies widely based on location; in one former logistics base in Rafah, now turned into a shelter housing over 8,000 people, there are 400 people sharing one toilet.
“We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I have been secretary-general,” said Guterres at a press conference on Monday. Human rights organizations and experts have been warning that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza is at least 14,128, according to the Palestinian government, including at least 5,600 children. At least 30,000 people have been injured, as the health system has nearly completely collapsed, with only a quarter of hospitals in the region still functioning and only 9 of the UNRWA’s 22 health centers still operational. Israel’s genocide has broken innumerable records since October 7, including the killing of a record number of journalists – 53 so far – and the most number of children killed in conflicts around the world since 2019.
The UNRWA’s aid capacities have been drastically reduced amid Israel’s blockade, the agency said, and over 100 UNRWA workers have been killed. Israeli authorities have authorized the entry of fuel into the region that the UNRWA says will only fulfill a fraction of the daily need. Meanwhile, sewage is flooding parts of Gaza as it cannot be removed, and access to clean drinking water has been cut by a third. There is also a dire shortage of food, with food stocks at risk of running out in a week.
Water is an especially pressing need. According to an Oxfam report released Friday, water levels in Gaza are at 17 percent of pre-siege levels, with water treatment and distribution made “virtually impossible” by the fuel shortage imposed by Israeli forces.
The international standard for water per person to take care of basic needs is 15 liters a day, or about 4 gallons. Currently, Oxfam has found that many people in Gaza have access to less than a gallon a day per person, while the amount of water that aid trucks were able to deliver into Gaza via the Rafah crossing between October 21 and November 12 was equivalent to less than half a gallon per person. No aid has entered via the Rafah crossing since November 14, Oxfam reported.
“The water is disgusting, most people are having to drink brackish water from wells,” said an Oxfam staff member in Gaza. “There is no electricity, so we have to fill buckets and carry up to the roof tank. Our whole family are sick with diarrhea.”
Oxfam America President and CEO Abby Maxman said that Israel’s blockade of supplies like food, water, electricity and fuel is against international law.
As Palestinians in Gaza are facing mass displacement and extreme difficulty fulfilling basic human needs, they are also facing bombardment by Israeli forces and no safe place to shelter from the shelling. Just on Tuesday, Israeli forces shelled al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, killing three doctors and severely injuring other hospital staff.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharon.
Ilhan Omar Introduces Resolution to Block $320M Sale of Bomb Kits to Israel
“We must not allow weapons sales that will be used to directly violate U.S. and international law,” Omar said.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) introduced a resolution on Thursday to block a weapons sale to Israel — the first legislation seeking to directly block military support to Israel introduced since Israeli forces began their total siege of Gaza last month.
The resolution of disapproval is aimed at stopping a proposed $320 million transfer of guided bomb kits to Israel. The proposal for the transfer of Spice Family Gliding Bomb Assemblies, which can turn unguided bombs into ones with high accuracy, was approved earlier this year, and the State Department notified Congress on October 31 that the transfer is moving ahead. The resolution would revoke the license for the sale.
“Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ethnonationalist government continue to commit war crimes in their siege of the Gaza Strip,” Omar said in a statement. “From requests to minimize civilian casualties, avoid a ground invasion, avoid reoccupation of Gaza, and institute a meaningful humanitarian pause, Netanyahu continues to thumb his nose at U.S. policy and requests.”
“The United States already provides the Israeli government with $3.8 billion of military aid a year, and holds enormous leverage over their actions. It is the responsibility of Congress to exercise oversight over weapons sales. That is why we must not allow weapons sales that will be used to directly violate U.S. and international law, human rights, and our own moral standing in the world,” Omar continued.
The resolution was cosponsored by five of Omar’s fellow progressives: Representatives Cori Bush (D-Missouri), Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). It has also been endorsed by over 70 progressive, anti-war and Palestine advocacy groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace Action and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
According to the lawmakers, Spice bombs have already been used in Israel’s current genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign, in which Israeli forces have killed at least 11,500 Palestinians in Gaza so far, including 4,710 children, and injured nearly 30,000.
The weapons are manufactured by Rafael USA, the U.S. branch of a prominent Israeli arms manufacturer. They are similar to joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, which the U.S. manufactures and has expedited the transfer of to Israel in the past weeks. JDAMs have likely been used by Israeli forces on Gaza since October 7 as well.
Despite Israel having committed a deluge of what human rights groups have said are likely war crimes, and historians and foreign policy experts saying that Israel’s siege is a “textbook” case of genocide, top U.S. officials are seeking to ramp up U.S. military aid to Israel; the Biden administration has, in fact, sought to make arms transfers to Israel in complete secrecy, circumventing Congress’s power to block them.
The U.S. has been unique in its failure to recognize the deep humanitarian crisis on a global stage; though 12 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council voted to adopt a resolution on Wednesday calling for “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza, the U.S., U.K. and Russia abstained. This was after the U.S. vetoed a similar resolution in the council last month, as the only country voting “no” on the proposal.
A growing number of lawmakers in Congress, including Omar and the other resolution cosponsors, are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez and Representatives Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) and Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota) sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging them to call for an immediate “bilateral ceasefire” in the region.
“We are profoundly shocked by the grave violations of children’s rights in the context of armed conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the lawmakers wrote. The letter was signed by 24 House Democrats in total, including Omar and several lawmakers who had previously not publicly called for a ceasefire.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharon.
