The Feb. 7 Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warns in graphic detail that Israeli genocide in Gaza has never ended, and that everything Israel is doing now “is calculated to bring about the physical destruction” of the Palestinian people. The commitments made under the terms of the Jan. 19 ceasefire, have blatantly and defiantly not been, and are not being, met.
Palestinians are still being killed by IDF snipers and soldiers, both in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire, 110 Palestinians have been killed, an average of 6 deaths per day. These include direct killings, as well as the deaths of people who have succumbed to their injuries. In addition, another 901 Palestinians have been injured since the beginning of the ceasefire—an average of 47 a day. Israel has prevented the rehabilitation of destroyed hospitals, and blocked the entry of medical supplies, medications, and equipment.
Especially in the north, access to safe water is “a daily struggle.” In the winter cold, people still can’t obtain adequate temporary shelter and other means to protect themselves. A Feb. 3 statement by the Palestine media office indicated that, according to the ceasefire protocol, 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents were supposed to have been brought into the Gaza Strip to house displaced people. Six hundred trucks carrying aid and fuel are supposed to enter the Gaza Strip each day, in addition to medical and health services and equipment needed to bolster humanitarian services.
However, Israel is obstructing all these deliveries. Euro-Med charges that the humanitarian situation hasn’t improved since Jan. 19. “Nearly all forms of aid remain disrupted, and the urgent humanitarian needs of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents have not been met,” it said. Euro-Med also charges that, while there has been some small increase in the number of trucks entering Gaza, some of the trucks contain non-essential items, revealed in a careful analysis of the trucks’ content. And only 3% of the 8,500 trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip were destined for northern Gaza. Medical devices and essential equipment needed to resume hospital operations, such as MRI machines, have not yet arrived in Gaza.
Here the Oasis Plan is urgently needed: In terms of municipal infrastructure, Euro-Med points out that 85% of the water wells in Gaza have been destroyed, and Israel has prohibited the import of the necessary equipment required to repair them. Local authorities and the Gaza Municipality in the north report that 100 wells in the northern Gaza Valley need to be restored and repaired immediately; to date, none have been repaired. “In addition to taking effective measures to protect Palestinians from plans for forced displacement and slow killing,” Euro-Med writes, immediate international action is required to stop the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip and to appropriately address the immediate needs of the population.”
