Image via UNRWA
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is reporting that since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began on October 7, the agency's shelters, schools and facilities have been struck at least 453 times killing at least 524 people sheltering there. Two-thirds of the schools they operate have also been hit. At least 197 of the agency's aid workers have been killed.
While noting that UN structures, schools and shelters should, of course, not be a target, the UNRWA data shows that the Israeli forces have clearly made them one.
The UNRWA's headquarters was attacked on July 8 as Israel again claimed, without evidence, that Hamas was operating there.
In its latest situation report the UNRWA also notes that according to "the UN, up to 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced nine or 10 times."
Horrifyingly they relate that Save the Children say "some women in Gaza are inducing labour to avoid giving birth while on the move, while others fear seeking essential prenatal care due to the threat of bombings. Some pregnant women have died from lack of access to medical care. Over the past nine months, in total an estimated 50,000 babies have been born in Gaza, often in traumatic, unsanitary and undignified conditions without basic services."
Meanwhile Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip is being overwhelmed as other hospitals have ceased operating and as Israel issues yet further evacuation orders. UNRWA:
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warns that Nasser Hospital, the last tertiary hospital in southern Gaza, risks being overwhelmed with casualties following the closure of the European Gaza Hospital due to Israeli evacuation orders. MSF teams at Nasser Hospital report severe shortages of medical supplies, jeopardizing essential healthcare. Patient numbers at Nasser Hospital are surging daily, surpassing bed capacity in all departments. On 3 July, the pediatric department, designed for 56 beds, had 100 patients. The orthopedic department has also seen patient numbers double in recent days.
On July 11 the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said that limited "access & supplies has meant families often don't receive the food assistance they need" in Gaza and now "half a million people face catastrophic levels of hunger."
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