The Palestinian death toll from Israel’s retaliatory military operation now approximately matches that of Hamas’s bloody insurgency on Saturday at some 1,200.
The impending humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip could, however, see this number rise dramatically.
Since the Israeli occupation ended in 2005, the State of Palestine has consisted of two geographically separate entities: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Hamas – an Islamic fundamentalist group – has governed over the latter since 2007.
Save a 7.5-mile stretch of border with Egypt to its south, the Gaza Strip and its over two million residents are entirely surrounded by Israel on land.
In response to Hamas’s act of terror – which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as the worst assault on the Jewish people “since the Holocaust” – an effective blockade has been enforced, leaving its people without food, water, power or escape.
The Gaza Strip covers an area of 140 square miles – roughly equivalent to that of Birmingham and Manchester. Along most of its perimeter is the Gaza-Israel barrier, also known as the Iron Wall.
First erected in 1994, the border has been upgraded multiple times and today features a 3-metre (10-foot) barbed wire fence with motion sensors and regular watchtowers equipped with remote-controlled machine guns.
Israel has progressively closed crossing points over the past 15 years, leaving just two in operation prior to last weekend’s escalation: Erez in the north and Kerem Shalom in the southeast, through which Israel allows only goods flowing between Egypt and the Strip to pass. Both have been closed since Saturday.
Along the short stretch of border with Egypt, only people could pass via a crossing near Rafah – Palestinians’ only hope of a route to safety whenever tensions with Israel flare.
Amid nearby bombing from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and fears of an influx of refugees to Sinai, Egyptian authorities closed the gates on Monday while urging Tel Aviv to provide safe passage for civilians.
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been dire ever since Hamas seized power 16 years ago. A UN report last year claimed 62 percent of the population required international food assistance programmes to survive.
As of Thursday, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of displaced Palestinians has risen to more than 338,000, with most sheltering in hospitals and UN schools.
In an earlier statement, the UN said that half a million people had stopped receiving vital food aid as it had been forced to shut all 14 of its food distribution centres, as 11 of the agency’s staff were confirmed to have been killed.
Israel’s Energy Minister Israel Katz posted on social media that “no electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” in the Strip until the “abductees” are free – referring to the 150 hostages, including many women and children, thought to be held by Hamas.
As Israel’s siege intensified earlier in the week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that depriving Gazans of basic survival needs would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.
