Israeli military hostilities against Gaza in April has produced a new climate of damage and family relocation. It has wreaked havoc on surviving families’ well-being and their societal, economic, and mental life has been tensely impacted.
More than two million people live in horrific circumstances in Gaza, with over 80% of them currently relying on international aid. Gazans who lost their homes are now looking for a place to stay while they wait for help to restore the strip.
The United Nations’ statistics shows that Israeli strikes during the 11-day war have ruined more than 260 buildings. Besides, six hospitals, 53 schools, and 11 healthcare centers in Gaza were destroyed.
The Israeli military ruined the only exclusive COVID-19 center in Gaza. While no reliable information about the contraction and victims of Covid-19 is accessible from Gaza, Oxfam estimates show that more than 330,000 cases have been detected so far among whom, more than 3,700 individuals lost their lives.
Oxfam has also released a stunning data about the number of displaced people in Gaza as a result of the recent clashes. Asserting that more than 100,000 people were faced with forced displacement, Oxfam says “every one of the 2.1 million people living in the Gaza Strip has been affected by Israel’s bombing that took 253 lives, destroyed or damaged 258 buildings containing nearly 1,042 homes and commercial offices, and devastated vital public services.”
About 1,500 houses, inhabited by families, were entirely destroyed and another 13,000 were partly damaged. A huge part of the semi-ruined home units is uninhabitable. Media offices were not safe from Israeli strikes. Following major damage on Gaza’s water infrastructure, more than 800,000 people are devoid of access to healthy water.
The harsh condition is pushing the civil society organization to establish an emergency strategy to aid in a quick recovery. A long-term “ceasefire” as well as pursuing “political solutions” are sough simultaneously. Biden administration, as the main ally of Israel, has pledged a $150 million donation, which is considered a partial restoration of funding for The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
“This week, I will be releasing almost $US18 million from the OPT Humanitarian Fund and the Emergency Relief Coordinator in New York will release an additional $4 million to restore people’s access to basic services, such as healthcare and water,” Hastings said.
The measures should be incorporated into a more efficient and productive global framework as a replacement for the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM). GRM was formed following the 2014 Gaza conflict to restore the massive destructions. Due to Israel’s control on the flow of goods and access to Gaza, however, the GRM deteriorated the situation for Gaza and its inhabitants.
War Crime
Activists, independent media, and human rights organizations all over the world have been strict in their support for Palestine and the right if its people. These groups have demanded that Israel be declared responsible for the 11-day war against civilians in Gaza which resulted in huge devastation, thousands of injuries, and hundreds of casualties.
The obvious violation of human rights in the recent war has infuriated the people from across the world. In some cases, the public fury led to action by local administrations.
In Ireland, as the first country in the EU zone, the human rights groups forced the local parliament to declare the annexation of Palestinian territories on may, 26.
The next day, the Human Rights Council voted for an investigation over the potential war crimes during the 11-day hostilities. The resolution was passed after Michelle Bachelet, the rights chief, declared that Israeli offensive may amount to war crimes.
A major part of the donations to Palestine is provided by a country which is the main supporter of continuation of hostilities against Palestine. In the past decades, the vicious cycle of “hostility, fragile peace, reconstruction” secured a diverse range of US interests in the region; at the expense of thousands of lives lost in Gaza.
