Wounded child, no surviving family
Death Toll in Gaza passes 30,000
This is dedicated to the women and children of Gaza who have been disproportionately affected by what the South African Government is calling an Israeli genocide. According to the New York Times, the death toll in Gaza has passed 30,000 —roughly one person killed for every 73 Palestinians in Gaza—though experts say it is likely an undercount.
The following are excerpts of news stories globally detailing the horrors being experienced by Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israel Government.
Excerpt 1 Source: The Guardian (UK) editorial February 1, 2024
The Guardian view on Gaza’s devastation: The suffering won’t end when war does
More than 27,000 people have now been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities. Tens of thousands of people are injured, in many cases with life-changing injuries. Women and children are disproportionately affected. What will become of those now known by the chilling abbreviation WCNSF —Wounded child, no surviving family? The suffering and need are almost beyond imagination. Conditions continue to deteriorate, and supplies run short. Hospitals have been destroyed or damaged while health needs grow, with an increasing number of patients injured in airstrikes or falling sick from their living conditions.
In one harrowing account this week, a pediatrician described a surgeon warning her that he had more urgent cases than the infant bomb victim she was treating. “I tried to imagine what was more pressing than a one year old with no hand and no legs who was choking on his own blood,” she added. There is now growing chatter about the push by the US for an extended pause in fighting in exchange for the release of hostages, with the hope that this might ultimately be expanded into a permanent ceasefire.
When the war eventually ends, the survivors will be left amid the rubble. Communicable diseases will spread more easily in densely packed settlements without proper sanitation. An estimated 50 to 62 per cent of buildings in Gaza have likely been damaged or destroyed, and an even higher proportion of its homes.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, called this week for the offence of domicide—the mass razing of neighbourhoods—to be included in international humanitarian and criminal law. There is only so much relief work can do to ameliorate such a catastrophe. But the mass suspension of funding to the UN agency UNRWA– over allegations, described by the US as credible, that some employees participated in Hamas’s October 7 atrocities—is a terrible blow. It will exacerbate the suffering in a place where, says Commissioner Philippe Lazzarini, more than two million people depend on its aid for “sheer survival”. Israeli media reports that ministers have also proposed limiting the inflow of aid to Gaza to weaken Hamas and increase pressure for the release of hostages.”
– End of excerpt
Excerpt 2 Source: Anatolia Agency Date: February 25, 2024
By Can Efesoy, Mustafa Deveci “The death toll for women and children in Gaza, amid Israel’s relentless attacks since October 7, exceeds six times that of the ongoing Russia Ukraine War, revealing the severe brutality in the region. At least 12,660 children and 8,570 women have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7, compared to 2,992 women and 579 children killed in the two-year Russia-Ukraine War- Israel has been relentlessly bombing the Palestinian enclave, home to nearly 2.3 million residents, from the air, land, and sea. According to Palestinian sources, Israel has used more than 66,000 tons of explosives in the attacks, averaging 183 tons of explosives per square kilometre in Gaza.
As Gaza is devastated by the attacks, 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced. Israel’s attacks have killed 29,410 Palestinians, including at least 12,660 children and 8,570 women. Additionally, 69,465 others have been injured, with more than 70 per cent of the wounded being women and children. While thousands are still reported dead under the rubble, civilian infrastructure is also being destroyed by targeting hospitals and educational institutions where victims seek refuge. Palestinians, struggling to survive attacks, also face hunger due to Tel Aviv’s obstacles to bringing aid to the region.
The UN warned that 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip are facing famine under Israel’s intense attack. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the UN said that 378,000 people in Gaza face catastrophic hunger in Phase 5 and 939,000 face emergency hunger in Phase 4. Famine thresholds for acute food insecurity have exceeded 15 per cent and have been classified as “critical” by the World Health Organization, reaching 16.2 per cent. It is reported that Palestinians in northern Gaza are forced to grind animal feed to make flour.
The 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, under an Israeli land, air, and sea blockade since 2007, are trapped in an approximately 360 square kilometre (139 square miles) area. Due to the attacks, there is no safe place for Palestinians to take refuge in Gaza. Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah, covering an area of 64 square kilometres, due to the attacks in northern, central, and southern Gaza.
According to UN data, the population of Rafah, which was 280,000 before October 7, has increased by more than five times due to the migration of displaced Palestinians, revealing that more than half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge in the small piece of land. Due to the lack of adequate housing, the majority of Palestinians in Rafah live in makeshift tents, struggling to survive. The Israeli Government has been signalling a ground attack on Rafah. If Rafah is attacked, Palestinians taking refuge there will face even more difficult days as sufficient aid cannot be delivered to the region.”
—End of excerpt
Source 3 Ms Magazine by Wakaba Oto & Kiara Alvarez February 20, 2024
“Israel’s three-month military campaign in Gaza is impacting Palestinian women and children at unprecedented catastrophic levels, according to a January 2024 UN Women report. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 70 per cent of whom were women and children. Suffering from forced displacement and the lack of food, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene products, including menstrual pads, Gazans are “experiencing an almost complete erosion of individual and collective coping mechanisms,” the report reads.
Giving birth in Gaza is also increasingly dire, especially as hospitals in Gaza become battlegrounds. “Two weeks after the war started on my due date, I went to the hospital knowing that I was risking my life and that of my long awaited baby … My doctor decided to use a private clinic that was not fully equipped as it was the only solution available then,” a 30-yearold Gazan woman told the UN in the same report. The UN polled women-led and women’s rights organizations currently operating in Gaza and found that their key asks are for the humanitarian system to:
Support the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire.
Prioritise flexible funding for women’s organisations to remain operational, recognising their vital role in providing lifesaving services.
Ensure that women’s organisations are meaningfully participating in humanitarian response planning, implementation, and monitoring.”
— End of Excerpt