Urgent Health Update: Consequences of war on Gaza-May 26, 2024

Israeli bombardment from air, land, & sea continues to be reported across much of Gaza, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, & destruction of houses & other civilian infrastructure. Ground incursions & heavy fighting also continue to be reported, especially in Jabalya as well as eastern & central Rafah.

Numbers are cumulative since 10/7/23

PUBLICATIONS

“The Genocide in Gaza from a Gender Perspective & the Impact on Early Childhood” Arab Network for Early Childhood

VIDEO/PODCASTS/WEBINAR

2 weeks inside Gaza’s ruined hospitals in which Dr. Samer Attar, a US surgeon, shows the unfathomable brutality of the war in Gaza. Click here.

“The violent reaction & the violent suppression of these peaceful protests have just been utterly outrageous, & it serves to bolster the determination of a lot of the organizers,” Barbara Ransby, a scholar, writer & longtime activist - The Electronic Intifada Podcast. Electronic Intifada

News highlights from Electronic Intifada & link to news video on Week 33. Electronic Intifada

Webinar: Alice Rothchild, MD, Update on Gaza: The Impact of War on Maternal and Newborn Health in Gaza

GAZA

·       Killed: >35,903 (5/25)

·       Recent deadly incidents include strikes in As Sahaba, Gaza City; Jabalya Refugee Camp, Deir al Balah, New Camp of An Nuseirat

·       Injured: >80,200 (5/23)

·       Israeli airstrike on a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, killed at least 45 people on 5/26 & wounded 249. The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at a Hamas compound.

·       Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 285 (5/24)

·       Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 1,781 (5/24)

·       Hostages in Gaza: 125

·       458 attacks on health care facilities, affecting 32 of 36 hospitals, 109 ambulances. IDF investigation into the death of a UN worker last week found that his vehicle was on an off-limits road without IDF coordination. Despite being marked with UN letters – & contrary to regulations regarding humanitarian workers – the vehicle was attacked first with a shell, then with grenades nearby.

·       15 of 36 hospitals partially functional, 6 of 9 functional field hospitals, available bed capacity >439% as of 5/13

·       No hospitals are currently accessible in North Gaza governorate; Al Awda Hospital partially functional but inaccessible, communicable diseases are on the rise, with children <5 particularly affected.

·       On 5/19 Israeli forces bombed al-Awda hospital in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.  Israeli artillery surrounded, blocked off & the bulldozed the vicinity of the hospital, considered the only facility that provides orthopedic, gynecological, & obstetrics services in the northern Gaza Strip, as well as general surgery, reception, emergency, specialized clinics, radiology, laboratory services.

·       Israeli airstrike targeting a house at Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 31 people % injured 20, updating an earlier toll.

·       WHO warns “access to health care in Gaza is further shrinking.” Israeli military raided Al Awda Hospital, most staff, patients, & companions evacuated. Kamal Adwan Hospital-health workers & patients evacuated. Shortages of fuel, medical supplies & equipment threaten ability of remaining health facilities to operate.

·       5/23, administration of Al Aqsa Hospital appealed for an urgent intervention by international organizations to provide 50,000 liters of fuel to avert “an imminent crisis” if the electricity stops, which would threaten the lives of more than 1,200 wounded and sick patients, particularly those in the Intensive Care Unit, newborns in incubators, and some 600 patients with kidney failure requiring dialysis treatment.

·       Access to sexual, reproductive, & maternal health (SRMH) services across Gaza is becoming increasingly limited. Only 5 hospitals, 2 field hospitals, 15 primary health centers, & 17 medial points continue to offer such services

·       170-180 deliveries per day, 27% C-sections, lack of adequate SRMH (sexual, reproductive, maternal health) services exposes mothers & newborns to severe & life-threatening health risks, & if women survive pregnancy & childbirth, the risk of disease, infections & critical nutrition deficits hampers postpartum recovery.

·       Pregnant women in southern Gaza have had access to 3 hospitals recently. 2 located in Rafah: al-Helal al-Emirati hospital and a field hospital run by the International Medical Corps. Third is Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, which has resumed some services after coming under major Israeli attack. When Israel invaded Rafah earlier this month, many medical staff evacuated, fearing for their lives. On the first day of the invasion, 25 babies were born at the field hospital. It does not have the capacity to deal with that number of births.

·       Some displaced people in central Gaza now surviving on 3% of the minimum standard for daily water needs, warn international NGOs, this situation is forcing people to rely on unsafe water sources like seawater & agricultural wells, the lack of adequate water quantities is contributing to dehydration. In the absence of sanitation facilities, displaced people are also building their own makeshift latrines, with up to 600 individuals sharing a single latrine, a situation exacerbated by the scarcity or unaffordability of hygiene supplies.

·       Children <5 make up 29% of acute respiratory infections, 33% of bloody diarrhea cases, & 28% of acute watery diarrhea illnesses.

·       Nearly 40% of Gaza’s population displaced over the past 2 weeks, many of whom have already been displaced multiple times. The Health Cluster warns of a further surge in malnutrition & communicable diseases due to large scale displacement towards areas that lack food, water & other basic necessities. Ministry of Health appealed for support to address acute shortages of medications.

·       Network outages, insecurity, & access challenges continue to disrupt aid operations in Gaza.

·       5/22: ~30 Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons into Gaza

·       Limited entry of aid supplies, from 5/7-5/23, 906 truckloads of humanitarian assistance entered Gaza (not including commercial trucks and supplies dropped at Kerem Shalom without safety or logistical viability for humanitarian organizationsd to pick up) Minimum need is 500 per day.

·       UNRWA suspended food distributions in Rafah due to supply shortages & insecurity. Situation in Gaza is “beyond catastrophic,” reported WHO, as Kamal Adwan Hospital became non-functional and Al Awda Hospital remained under siege.

·       5/22 World Food Program (WFP) warned that “humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse…if food & humanitarian supplies do not begin to enter Gaza in massive quantities, desperation & hunger will spread.” 11 of 16 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners are operational

·       Flow of aid into Gaza has shrunk so much in May that humanitarian officials say their operations are at risk of shutting down, and that the threat of widespread starvation is more acute than ever.

·       As of 5/23, Member States have disbursed about US$885 million out of $3.4 billion (26 %) requested to meet the most critical needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza & 800,000 people in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between January & December 2024.

·       Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stated that the closure of the Rafah crossing has made it impossible for approximately 11,000 injured people to receive treatment they need outside Gaza. In addition, more than 10,000 cancer patients and 2,000 people with other diseases need treatment that is unavailable in Gaza’s hospitals.

·       All 12 universities in Gaza have been reduced to rubble, >90 professors reported killed during Israel’s assault on the territory – a process some call “scholasticide.” This attempted eradication of intellectual life is echoed by US universities eliminating jobs of some professors vocal in their support of Palestine.

WEST BANK & JERUSALEM
                                                         

·       Killed: 504 (5/18)

·       Injured: 5,000 (5/18)

·       463 health attacks

·       7 people killed in the clashes in Jenin, the number of wounded is constantly increasing. One of the wounded is a photojournalist who was hit by gunfire while covering the events.

·       Palestinian Health Ministry issued official statement mourning the death of Dr. Aseed Jabareen, 50, a surgery specialist, who was fatally wounded on his way to work during the IDF's operation in Jenin. IDF said it was investigating the circumstances of Dr. Jabareen's death, as well as reports of a Palestinian boy who was wounded while riding his bike

ISRAEL

·       Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is walking back its endorsement of Israel’s claims of a systematic campaign of sexual violence by Hamas fighters on 10/7, offering justifications & excuses for why it published a report riddled with falsehoods that have been used to justify & fuel Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

·       >1,300 Israeli academics & administrative staff signed a petition calling on the Israeli government to immediately end the war in Gaza & return the hostages, saying that “the benefits of continuing the war are manifestly unclear.”

·       Israeli military ordered residents of additional Beit Lahia neighborhoods in north Gaza to evacuate their homes, saying it intends to operate in the neighborhoods due to Hamas activity in the area.

·       Marwan Barghouti spends his days huddled in a cramped, dark, solitary cell, with no way to tend to his wounds, & a shoulder injury from being dragged with his hands cuffed behind his back. The books, newspapers & television that he used to be able to access have been gone since last October, along with any former cellmates. Lights that flicker in his cell each evening are intended to make sleep near impossible. Barghouti holds almost mythic status within Palestinian politics, seen as a figure whose potential to unify different factions has only grown during his 24 years in prison.

·       A network of WhatsApp groups run by a far-right movement calling itself Lo Nishkach (Hebrew for "we won't forget") has been especially active in the past week as members planned to block aid trucks heading to Gaza. The groups are the main tool being used to organize hundreds of the movement's members – young people from the religious Zionist right, most of them teenagers – to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian aid. 

·       Individual members of Israel’s security forces are tipping off far-right activists & settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, enabling the groups to block & vandalize the convoys, according to multiple sources.

·       Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press in southern Israel, accusing the news organization of violating the country's new ban on Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is among thousands of clients that receive live video feeds from the AP and other news organizations. AP denounced the move.

·       Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel should control Gaza after the war, that voluntary immigration of its residents should be encouraged, & Jewish settlements should be established in its territory. Ben-Gvir also said that he would be happy to live in the Gaza Strip if that were possible.

·       Israel agreed to perform an autopsy on the body of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, a senior physician from who died last month while detained at Ofer Prison, in the presence of a doctor representing the family, the police informed the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.

·       Israel already razed hundreds of homes in a Bedouin village. Then it tore down anything left standing. 'Authorities are behaving like the hilltop youth in the West Bank,' says Jabr Abu Assa, one of the leaders of the campaign against the demolition of Wadi Khalil.

·       Despite an international court order to stop its assault on Rafah, Israel says it will continue its operation, trying to walk a line between not angering its American allies too much while trying to achieve strategic aims that it considers too important to abandon.

US

·    Several University of Pennsylvania students await felony charges after they tried to take over a campus building, while 2 Harvard students have been charged with assault & battery amid a new wave of arrests.

·       The US medical establishment is making one of its worst mistakes – again. By ignoring the horrors in Gaza, our healthcare elites are adding to a shameful historical record of denialism.

·       Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is ramping up its lobbying to promote a controversial definition of antisemitism. Federal records show a dramatic spending increase that critics say is primarily intended to punish criticism of Israel & target pro-Palestinian groups.

·       October 7 survivors sue campus protesters, say students are “Hamas’s propaganda division.” 4 lawsutis alleging Hamas ties against Students for Justice in Palestine, the AP, UNRWA, & a cryptocurrency exchange share many or the same plaintiffs.

·       The next front in Palestine solidarity in the US: worker strikes. The symbiotic relationship between universities & the military puts higher education workers in a position of significant structural power.

INTERNATIONAL

·       Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the kingdom demands an international investigation into what he said were "many war crimes" committed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

·       Conclusion of Statement on Rafah by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, 5/24

Though Israel dismissed the international community's appeals to spare Rafah, the global clamor for an immediate stop to this offensive has grown too loud to ignore. With today’s adoption of Security Council resolution 2730 calling for protection of humanitarian workers & the International Court of Justice’s order to open the Rafah crossing to provide aid at scale & stop the military offensive there, this is a moment of clarity. 

It is a moment to demand respect for the rules of war to which all are bound: Civilians must be allowed to seek safety. Humanitarian relief must be facilitated without obstruction. Aid workers & UN staff must be able to carry out their jobs in safety. 

At a time when the people of Gaza are staring down famine; when hospitals are attacked and invaded; when aid organizations are blocked from reaching people in need; when civilians are under bombardment from north to south; it is more critical than ever to heed the calls made over the last seven months: 

Release the hostages. Agree a ceasefire. End this nightmare.

·       Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, said, “The accusation of antisemitism is very painful. …because of the history, it's heavy on me. At the same time, I had to develop a thick skin because this is the normal accusation leveled against anyone who dares to scrutinize Israel's practices. I know it's a technique to deflect attention from the content of my work, so I tend to ignore it.” When asked if she had advice for others facing similar smears, she replied “Stay strong, stay focused, build alliances, & don't get scared. Be louder, speak louder & louder.”

·       ICC prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu & Hamas officials for war crimes committed during the October attack & the ensuing war in Gaza.

·       5/24 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt any Rafah offensive that harms civilians. If Israel disobeys an order by ICJ it could face international sanctions. While the US is expected to back Israel in such a situation, most western governments are likely to stand by the court’s decision.

·       Norway, Ireland & Spain to recognize Palestinian state.

·       All EU donors have resumed funding UNRWA, according to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrel.

·       Diplomats are aiming to restart negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel & Hamas at some point in the next week, according to 3 officials, rekindling hopes of an end to the fighting in Gaza even as Israel presses ahead with its campaign there. Preliminary discussions were held in Paris between David Barnea, the director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad; William J. Burns, the director of the C.I.A.; & the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, one of the lead mediators between Israel & Hamas.

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, Ministry of Health, Electronic Intifada, The Guardian, Haaretz, DAWN MENA, The Intercept, The Nation, The New York Times, Portside, WHO, WAFA, CARE, Ministry of Health