Day 65: Gaza Faces Unprecedented Humanitarian Catastrophe as ‘israeli’ Massacres Continue

The Israeli bombardment of several many areas across the Gaza Strip continued on Sunday, with image circulated on media outlets and social media showing thick smoke in the sky from different parts of the besieged enclave.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said that more than 20 massacres were carried out by Israeli occupation, killing 210 people and injuring more than 2,300 others.

The latest figure took the death toll of the Palestinian people martyred since the Israeli aggression on Gaza started on October 7th to 17700, while the number of wounded people reached 48780, the Media Office announced in its daily press conference.

The Israeli occupation army said, for its part, that it had struck more than 250 targets inside Gaza in the past 24 hours.

Palestinians stare at a crater caused by Israeli air strikes on Salah al-Din Road (December 10, 2023 photo by AFP).

UNSC “Credibility Undermined”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the UNSC is paralyzed by geopolitical divisions and that its credibility undermined by the inability to pass a resolution urging a Gaza ceasefire.

Speaking at the Doha Forum, Guterres said serious efforts are needed to bring global institutions to better address global challenges, such as the Gaza war.

“We have never seen so many civilian casualties in such a short period during my mandate at the UN. The situation is quickly deteriorating into catastrophe, with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and peace and security in the region, the UN chief said.

H.E. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, addresses the opening ceremony of #DohaForum @antonioguterres @UN pic.twitter.com/lKjCd9sON9

— Doha Forum (@DohaForum) December 10, 2023

He vowed, meanwhile, that he “will not give up on trying to forge a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.”

Humanitarian Catastrophe

For his part, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has decried the devastating humanitarian toll in Gaza and warned that an urgent humanitarian ceasefire is needed to end the “hell on earth there”.

“By any description, it is definitely the worst situation I have ever seen,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, addressing the Doha Forum taking place in Qatar.

“People are coming to the UN to seek protection, but even the blue flag is not protected anymore. By any account, the situation has reached a catastrophic nature.”

Lazzarini warned that UNRWA is on the verge of collapse in Gaza and added that the world has failed the Palestinians.

Speaking at the opening of the forum, Qatar’s PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the situation in Gaza was making people around the world ask “some legitimate questions about the nature of the international systems and the efficiency of the legal instruments and its principles”.

“These questions become more important and more pressing as we continue to see the horrifying scenes that we might sometimes have to look away from,” he said.

WHO Holds Emergency Meeting

Meanwhile on Sunday, the World Health Organization chief said the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Gaza’s healthcare sector has been “catastrophic”.

However, he said it would be all but impossible for the WHO to improve the situation given the ongoing violence.

“It’s stating the obvious to say that the impact of the conflict on health is catastrophic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the 34-member board. “In summary, health needs have increased dramatically and the capacity of the health system has been reduced to one third of what it was.”

LIVE: @DrTedros‘s remarks at the opening of the WHO #EBSpecial Session on the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory https://t.co/NEfyTxdWVc

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 10, 2023