B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights caution disaster in wake of Israeli “revenge” atrocities
Statement from B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Physicians for Human Rights and B’Tselem: A humanitarian disaster in Gaza must be averted
Ever since the horrifying war crimes perpetrated by Hamas on Saturday, Israel has been bombing Gaza relentlessly and indiscriminately.
Thousands of tons of bombs have been dropped, and residents have nowhere to flee. So far, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 500 teens, children and babies have been killed, as well as more than 276 women and dozens of families; more than 6,600 have been injured; entire neighborhoods have been wiped out, essential infrastructure has been destroyed, and more than 423,000 people have been displaced.
At the same time, Defense Minister Yoav Galant ordered all the crossings hermetically closed and announced that “there will be no electricity, no food, no fuel – nothing.” Infrastructure Minister Israel Katz said Israel would cut off water and electricity supply to the Gaza Strip.
Katz said, “Without fuel, local electricity will be shut down within days, and pumping stations within a week.” Rafah Crossing has also shut down after Israel told Egypt it would strike any truck shipping goods through it. To prevent goods entering from the area, Israel bombed a road near the crossing too, and bombed it again after it was repaired.
For several days now, no food, goods, medicine, medical equipment, fuel and diesel have entered the Gaza Strip. The results are already seen on the ground. Gaza residents are completely dependent on supplies from the outside world, and a shortage of foodstuffs is starting to be felt and expected to grow worse within days. If Israel realizes its plan for a ground invation, as the media reports, the situation will immediately deteriorate exponentially.
Gaza’s power plant has stopped operating, and residents now get power for only three to four hours a day. Desalination plants, water pumps and sewage treatment plants, all of which depend on electricity, have also been shut down, and residents have also lost access to potable water.
Hospitals are on the brink of collapse due to the large number of wounded. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, medicines and surgical equipment supplies will last for only two more weeks. After that, it will no longer be possible to provide medical care for the wounded and the sick. Diesel for generators is expected to last no longer than a week, at which point, hospitals will no longer have power. The lack of electricity is expected to affect care for 1,100 dialysis patients and 100 premature babies, as well as 58 laboratories and the blood bank. On top of that, if the refrigerators currently used to store hundreds of bodies stop working, there is a danger of diseases and serious harm to public health.
Two million people live in Gaza. Not “human animals,” as Minister Gallant cursed, not “a nation of murderers and butchers of children,” as Minister Katz incited. The desire to take revenge on everyone, to starve them, deprive them of drinking water, keep them in darkness, reflects a criminal policy that defies international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime: It is forbidden to deny a civilian population basic humanitarian aid and medical treatment. It is forbidden to cut it off from infrastructure critical for its survival.
The terrible pain over the atrocities committed by Hamas on Saturday, which continue to be exposed every day, cannot justify such harm to the civilian population. Two million people will not be able to survive in such circumstances, and a humanitarian crisis, entirely human-made, is at the door.
It can still be prevented.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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