Gaza - The Humanitarian Consequences, Part 1

by Michael Bear · 2008-12-29 18:09:00 UTC
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[Situation in Gaza and southern Israel - Footage from Sky News]

Three days of Israeli bombing attacks against Gaza have left 350 dead, including 60 civilians, yet the humanitarian consequences aren't limited to casualty lists, no matter how long and horrific.

The situation in Gaza - brutal at the best of times - has been deteriorating over the last few months, as the Israeli Government imposed frequent blockades of humanitarian supplies in response to Hamas mortar and rocket fire against towns in southern Israel. 

Israel recently closed the crossings for nine days, finally allowing food and medical supplies into Gaza on Friday, December 26th, a day before the bombing started.

To give a sense of the scale - since November 5th, an average of 16 truckloads a day have been allowed into Gaza, as compared with 123 truckloads a day in October, and 475 per day in May 2007.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): "The prolonged closure of the crossing has led to an almost complete depletion of the stocks of basic commodities and has severely affected the operational capacity of humanitarian agencies."

Just last week, OCHA warned of the consequences if there was a "escalation of violence":

"The ongoing closures have significantly reduced the capacity of UN humanitarian agencies to provide assistance in the event of an escalation in violence. UN humanitarian assistance programs have run out of stock for several essential supplies and are facing severe difficulties in implementing their regular programmes. UNRWA has no flour or cash-notes to distribute, affecting thousands of dependant beneficiaries. WFP has been unable to preposition stocks; in case of an emergency, it has no food available within the Gaza Strip. There are shortages of over 100 essential pharmaceuticals and critical emergency surgical kits."

Which brings us to today - please see Part 2 of this post for more.

Michael Bear
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