Amidst ongoing Israeli bombings of Gaza, with the death toll of the bombardments up to 428 with another 2,100 people wounded, UN food agencies again warned that the people of Gaza are facing a heavy humanitarian crisis.
"The current situation in Gaza is appalling, and many basic food items are no longer available on the market," Said Christine van Nieuwenhuyse, the World Food Program's (WFP) representative in the Palestinian territory, in a statement that was released on Friday. "This area ... is one of the poorest and most heavily affected by the recent conflict," she added.
WFP officials said that they have begun to give bread to 15,000 new recipients, a number which added to the already large group of people that had been lining up for bread after two years of Israeli blockades of Gaza, the most recent of which began in early November. The blockades, surely a catalyst for violent Hamas attacks, have been condemned by Human Rights Watch as a "violation of international humanitarian law."
As the humanitarian crisis steps up, so do the bombings, which Thursday killed a senior Hamas leader along with thirteen of his family members and several civilians nearby.
As sewage and blood runs through the streets, many Gazans are trying to flee the area by storming the border with Egypt, a move which Egyptian police blocked on Sunday and are planning to do so again today as Egyptian leaders ordered their policemen to open fire on Gazans trying to flee into Egypt.
Meanwhile hospitals in Gaza say that they are completely out of even the most basic medical supplies and have little or no capacity to deal with further casualties.
Hasan Khalaf, Gaza's assistant deputy health minister, described the ongoing assault on Gaza as "an Israeli massacre".
"There is no comparison between what we have and what [Israel] are doing to us. The international community are standing unable to help us, and yet we know they have been helping Israel for tens of years."
By WIKINEWS
* "UN food agency decries 'appalling' situation in Gaza". AFP, January 2nd, 2009
* "Gaza mourns as strikes continue". Al Jazeera, January 2nd, 2009
* "Gaza blockade amounts to collective punishment: HRW". AFP, January 31st, 2008
* "Egypt police to shoot Gazans at Rafah". Press Tv, January 2nd, 2009
* Ibrahim Barzak and Diaa Hadid "Gazans unsure where to flee violence". Associated Press, December 31st, 2008
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