The suffering of the displaced is increasing in severity in various parts of Gaza, as a result of the depression that is hitting the country, with hundreds of tents being damaged as a result of rain and strong winds in light of the scarcity of urgent relief supplies and the occupation’s continued siege of the Strip, while Zionist vehicles carry out daily bulldozing and destruction operations in areas close to the Yellow Line, by blowing up residential squares and semi-destroyed homes in those areas.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced, the day before yesterday, the death of a new Palestinian infant as a result of a severe drop in temperature, coinciding with a cold wave in the country. The Ministry stated in a statement that the month-old baby, Saeed Asaad Abdeen, died as a result of the severe drop in temperature.
Gaza hospitals also announced the death of a 7-day-old infant due to the extreme cold in Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, where the suffering of the displaced people in tents worsened as a result of the new depression amid warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Doctors announced the death of the infant after being exposed to extreme cold, in light of the lack of suitable heating methods, noting that official data indicates that 4 children died as a result of the cold inside the displacement tents, in light of the difficult humanitarian conditions that the Strip is experiencing.
For its part, the Civil Defense in Gaza confirmed that “every air depression turns into a humanitarian disaster in light of preventing the entry of construction materials and disrupting reconstruction,” and warned of a “disaster” due to “the air depression that caused severe damage to temporary shelter conditions and thousands of tents were completely damaged.” The Civil Defense appealed to citizens to stabilize their tents to avoid them being blown away in light of not allowing entry to mobile homes.
Civil Defense spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, explained in a statement, “What is happening is not a weather crisis, but rather a direct result of preventing the entry of building materials and disrupting reconstruction, as people live in torn tents and cracked homes without safety or dignity.” He pointed out that Palestinians were forced to set up their tents on the seashore as a result of the lack of space inside the cities as a result of the widespread Zionist destruction of them.
He stressed that what the Gaza Strip is witnessing “does not rise to the minimum humanitarian standards and constitutes a flagrant violation of humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law,” as hundreds of tents were damaged due to strong winds, coinciding with warnings from the Meteorological Authority of continued winds and falling temperatures.
The Zionist raids on the outskirts of the Beach camp, northwest of Gaza City, inflicted losses on the tents of the displaced and destroyed their contents, forcing them to sleep in the open, which makes matters more difficult, especially since the Gaza Strip is witnessing a new air depression accompanied by rain and stormy winds, while the Palestinian meteorology said yesterday that the opportunity remains for scattered showers of rain to fall in some areas with strong winds blowing, sometimes reaching speeds of about 60 kilometers per hour.
These declines exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which did not witness a tangible improvement despite the entry into force of the ceasefire, due to the occupation’s renunciation of its obligations under the agreement.
The occupation has violated the ceasefire agreement dozens of times since last October, and has worked to expand the Yellow Line, as the percentage of territory it controls has increased, during the past three weeks, from 53 percent to more than 60 percent, as these forces work to move the yellow cement blocks that mark the beginning of the Yellow Line and which Palestinians are prohibited from crossing.
Zionist violations are not limited to Gaza only, but the West Bank is exposed to increasing attacks and violations that are taking an escalating trend, whether by the occupation forces or settlers, as the Zionist army and settlers stormed, on Friday evening, several Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank, interspersed with confrontations.
Palestine TV said that confrontations broke out between Palestinians and the occupation forces during the storming of Al-Arroub Camp, north of the city of Hebron, while in the Old City of Hebron. The TV reported that settlers stormed Jaber Neighborhood and Al-Ras neighborhood in the Old City of Hebron. Yesterday, the settlers escalated their attacks in various areas of the occupied West Bank and stole about 200 heads of sheep from a farm in the town of Kober, northwest of Ramallah, central The West Bank, in parallel with other incursions and attacks, in provocations aimed at pushing the population to forcibly migrate.
In this regard, Stephane Dujarric, the official spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that the deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories continues, pointing to the disastrous situation in the Gaza Strip, while forced displacement and settler attacks are escalating in the West Bank.
