The besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza will turn into a "mass grave" if the response to the humanitarian emergency is further delayed, the head of Gaza's government media office said Thursday.
Israeli forces launched an indiscriminate and forceful military campaign against the Gaza Strip, a response to a military offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israeli territories.
"The Gaza Strip has entered a dangerous turn, and is witnessing deterioration in all its services and living conditions" after Israel cut off water and electricity supply, Salama Ma’rouf told Anadolu Agency (AA).
He said, "Israel is working to wipe out entire residential neighborhoods, forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of citizens from their homes, and annihilate entire families by bombing their homes over their heads."
The bombing, Ma'rouf added, has led to "mass massacres," and "morgues are unable to accommodate the increasing number of corps."
The number of injuries has exceeded the capacity at hospitals, and the wounded are being treated in hospital corridors as all operation and care rooms are occupied, the official added.
"Gaza is a disaster zone subjected to genocide, collective punishment and massacre," Ma'rouf said. "Delayed response will result in turning the Gaza Strip into a mass grave, in which people die in many ways; due to bombing and destruction, hunger, lack of safe drinking water, or the spread of epidemics and infectious diseases."
Palestinian Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila, meanwhile, called for urgent and immediate support for the health sector in the Gaza Strip, warning of its collapse.
There is an "acute shortage of medical supplies, appliances for operating rooms, medicines, and blood bags," she said, adding that "the large number of wounded currently exceeds the capacity of hospitals in Gaza."
The conflict began when Hamas on Saturday initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel, a multi-pronged surprise attack including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel via land, sea, and air. Hamas said the offensive was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.
Israel's response has extended into cutting water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said electricity, water and fuel will not be provided to Gaza until all its hostages were freed.
UN agency warns food, fresh water rapidly running out in Gaza
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday that crucial supplies were running dangerously low in the Gaza Strip after Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory following deadly Hamas attacks.
"It's a dire situation in the Gaza Strip that we're seeing evolve with food and water being in limited supply and quickly running out," said Brian Lander, the deputy head of emergencies at WFP, which is based in Rome.
"WFP is on the ground and is responding and we're providing food to thousands of people that have sought shelter in schools and elsewhere across the territory. But we're going to run out very soon," he told Reuters TV.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (IRCRC) said on Thursday that fuel for hospital generators in Gaza would run out shortly, adding that its stocks of aid and medicine within Gaza were stranded for want of safe passage.
Besides sealing the border, the Israeli military has also launched massive air attacks on the enclave, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes.
"The people that are seeking shelter and striving to survive in this environment are only going to get into worse and worse situations as time goes on," Lander said.
He urged both Israel and Egypt to create secure corridors for the WFP to be able to bring supplies into Gaza and to make sure U.N. staff could work safely in the area.
"We've seen a number of sites that are considered humanitarian, or clinics and schools that have been hit by the strikes. So, we again, we are calling on the parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law," he said.
The U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) has said 11 of its staff have been killed in Israeli airstrikes so far. "(It) is a terrible tragedy and we really extend our condolences to their families," Lander said. Four aid workers of the Red Crescent were also killed in Israeli airstrikes, in violation of international law.
In normal times, the U.N. agency provides direct food assistance to some 350,000 Palestinians monthly, while also offering aid to nearly 1 million people in cooperation with other humanitarian partners via cash transfers.
In a 2023 report, U.N. agencies estimated that 58% of Gaza Strip residents required humanitarian assistance with 29% of Gazan households living in extreme or catastrophic conditions compared with 10% in 2022.