Since more than three weeks, Gaza has not had food or supplies, the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency said Friday that it has become the longest stretch without entering the enclave to step up its military operations amid the near-complete blockade of Israel, and to bolster its military operations amid deep despair.
“Critical supplies, including food and medical devices, are becoming severely exhausted and urgently needed to deal with the already devastating humanitarian crisis,” said the UNRWA report released Friday.
The World Food Program said in an operational update on Thursday it only has enough food stock to last “if supply is growing” and two more weeks.
“Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are once again at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition, as strips decline and humanitarian food stocks at the border remain closed for aid,” WFP said.
The UNRWA report noted that over 180 children were killed in a day after Israel defeated Hamas in a fierce airstrike on March 18, and UNICEF called “one of the biggest one-day child death fees last year.”
Health officials say the number of deaths since the current conflict began on October 7, 2023 has exceeded 50,000.
On Friday evening, Israeli missiles raided the Awad family home in Alzaiton, east of Gaza city, killing 15 people, including 15 toddlers, including seven women and five children.
The NBC news team was waiting for the surviving family Atef Awad to pull the body of a loved one from the roof rub.
“This is 14-year-old Abdullah, this is Najwa, just 2-year-old,” he said. “The world celebrates the birthdays of our children and their deaths.”
The Israeli Defense Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some people are saddened as their families were pulled out of the wreckage, while others are looking for hospitals for their loved ones. At the Al Ali Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Dawd Awad lifted the shroud of the dead and desperately searched for the body of his loved one.
“Where is my daughter? Where is my son?” he called out as he called out.
Firefighter and rescuer Abdullah al-Majdarawi described the immense challenges his team faces retrieving their bodies, citing a serious shortage of equipment and resources.
His story highlights the struggles facing enclave aid workers who risk their lives to help survivors.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Association reported on Saturday that the fate of nine emergency medical care remains unknown after Rafa’s “besieged and targeted by Israeli forces” for seven days in a row.
The PRCS also said Israeli authorities refused to allow rescue teams to search for missing medical personnel in the Tel Al-Sultan area, calling on the international community to “put pressure on Israel to clarify the fate of the missing team.”
Unrwa also reported that four staff members were injured in an Israeli strike in March, causing several distribution centres in Gaza to suffer.
More than 50,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in Israel’s ongoing attacks, according to Gaza’s local health ministry.
Israel says it aims to eliminate Hamas to prevent repeated attacks on October 7th. Israeli officials say 1,200 people have been killed and about 250 have been taken hostage.
Israel has said it wants to eliminate Hamas so that October 7th does not repeat it, but its rhetoric has become increasingly hostile ever since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke the ceasefire, promising to boost military power and threaten to take lands in assault on Gaza.
The Israeli attacks began in early March with more militant rhetoric between President Donald Trump and Hamas and Gaza, as well as Israeli hostages, saying, “You’re dead!”
