The situation in the Gaza Strip is becoming increasingly desperate for Palestinians. The people are exhausted from spending sleepless nights under bombings and being deprived of water, food and fuel. Fights and scuffles between civilians at water distribution points are becoming increasingly frequent. Just yesterday, on October 29, three weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel, Tel Aviv reopened the second of three pipelines feeding the Strip. According to the Times of Israel, up to 28.5 million liters of water can currently reach the Palestinian territory under Hamas control: before the conflict between Israel and Hamas, this figure was 49 million liters. Last October 9, Israel cut off supplies to Gaza, and then last week a pipeline with reduced flow to the south was reopened.
Palestinians in the Strip are desperate to find even a pita, or Arabic bread. And the life of bakers in the region is becoming increasingly dangerous. There were fights and even attacks against bakers who were deprived of even the raw material flour. As in Deir al-Balah, south of Gaza City, where a mob attacked warehouses of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, driving out in carts dragged by donkeys filled with sacks of flour and other products. Without this flour, bread production in the region would stop completely.
UNRWA adds on its website: “This is a worrying sign that public order is beginning to collapse after three weeks of war and siege in the Gaza Strip. People are afraid, frustrated and helpless.” Including 1.7 million Palestinian refugees are paying the devastating price of the escalation in the Gaza Strip. Civilians die while the world watches. Air strikes continue. Families are being displaced en masse. Rescue supplies are running out. Humanitarian access remains blocked.”
The escalating situation caused Hamas police to intervene. In Deir al-Balah, officers arrested scores of people and seized back flour needed to produce tomorrow’s bread. Bakers, who threatened to close their businesses after being victims of violence, assured the public that they would produce bread if the police provided them with protection, along with the wave of arrests. It’s an increasingly complex task. Due to bombings and the destruction of bakeries, the number of people producing bread in the region is decreasing day by day. It was reported that other trucks carrying water, food and medicine also entered the Rafah border gate on the Egyptian border. For now, the amounts remain low, but Israel seems to have promised the US to increase these amounts. The most severe shortage concerns fuel, which Israel has banned from entering.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
