Diya Upreti, Jadetimes Staff
Diya Upreti is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Isreal-Gaza war News
The Humanitarian Impact of the Israel-Gaza War: A Growing Crisis
The latest surge in the Israel-Gaza conflict has been catastrophic for civilians, with hundreds of families in Gaza having been affected by the heavy military operations. Daily airstrikes and artillery shelling have resulted in massive destruction in Gaza, leaving significant portions of the territory in ruins. The city's infrastructure has suffered severely due to its weakened state for years under restriction and blockade. Hospitals fail to care for their patients due to the acute lack of medical supplies, electricity, and clean water. Emergency responders are overwhelmed; clinics operate at over capacity as civilian injuries mount.
Worsening: Life-blood essentials such as food and potable water, in addition to medical aid, can not continuously enter Gaza. Over 90% of the population has been denied critical food security, with almost everyone at starvation edge. The most vulnerable of the two groups are the children and the elderly, of whom the former and latter suffer the most from the consequences of malnutrition and epidemics. The destruction of sanitation facilities and limited availability of clean water have increased the chances of infectious diseases while an already critical humanitarian crisis is complicated.
Hundreds of thousands of residents, due to displacement, flee north Gaza to avoid fiercest fighting. However, few areas of Gaza can be termed safe, so most families have to move from one location to another. This constant displacement has prevented access to aid, crowded improvised shelters, and deteriorating conditions as families seek a place to stay. Human rights groups sounded the alarm, urging an immediate international intervention to unblock humanitarian access and prevent civilians from further harm.
Increasingly, global actors are also calling for a ceasefire, so that critical supplies would be able to reach all those in need and the humanitarian organizations get safe access to the affected regions. The calls for de-escalation of hostilities are also getting louder; leaders are now urging parties to focus on civilian protection. The United Nations and other international organizations are being pushed to look for long-term solutions focused on the sources of conflict, and to emphasize the fact that it is only under peace and stability that they can finally break the cycles of violence that have defined the region for decades.
It reminds the world of an imperative need for concerted humanitarian intervention and international action towards securing vulnerable populations and finding peace. The world hopes and waits anxiously while violence continues in Gaza and expects an end to such hostility and a future course leading to peace and security.
