The Worsening Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza

The Israeli government’s intensifying siege of north Gaza continues, and conditions there have deteriorated even further. The leaked letter from the Biden administration from earlier this month had no effect:

“The situation in northern Gaza is worse today than it was when the letter was written,” said Scott Paul, Oxfam America’s director for peace and security. “The areas that are being depopulated right now have received nothing.”

Almost 800,000 people in Gaza are enduring “emergency” or “catastrophe” levels of food scarcity, according to the IPC, a multi-agency initiative for measuring food security.

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Many Children Among Hundreds Killed, Wounded in Latest Israeli Bombings of Gaza

A devastating wave of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Thursday have killed or wounded hundreds of Palestinians, including many children, according to local and international media reports.

Citing Gaza Civil Defense officials, Palestine’s Quds News Network reported Thursday that at least 150 Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombardment of around a dozen apartment towers on Al-Houja Street in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

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Israel’s Ferocious Bombing of Northern Gaza Halts Polio Vaccination Effort

Israel’s intensified bombardment of northern Gaza – which according to Palestinian officials has killed or wounded more than 1,700 people since early October – has forced a halt to the third phase of a polio vaccination campaign scheduled to begin Wednesday.

“Due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza – including the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and partners – have been compelled to postpone the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was set to begin today,” WHO said in a statement Wednesday. “This final phase of the ongoing campaign aimed to vaccinate 119,279 children across northern Gaza.”

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