Israel kept the Rafah crossing, one of the main crossings in the Gaza Strip, closed once again today. Dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid would enter there. The Israeli authorities’ decision must remain in force until Hamas returns the bodies of hostages who died in the Palestinian enclave. Of the 28 hostages killed in the Gaza Strip, ten have been handed over so far, one of which has not been identified as one of the victims kidnapped by Hamas.
The general practitioner from the organization Doctors Without Borders, Paulo Reis, returned last Tuesday (07), after spending two months in Gaza and spoke, in an interview with Tarde Bandnews, with Paula Valdez, about the challenges of working in the midst of shortages:
“In the last few weeks, before the ceasefire, there was a worsening, especially after there was an occupation order for the northern part. The hospitals were very full, people were under a lot of stress in relation to what is going to happen and there was a great difficulty in terms of medical materials, supplements, medication and to a certain point even the issue of water supply. The last few weeks have been very difficult”
Israel also informed the United Nations that it will allow only 300 trucks of humanitarian aid to pass through per day, half the combined volume, and will prohibit the entry of fuel and gas into Gaza. The situation worsens the situation in the region.
In recent weeks, for example, our section alone was providing 300,000 liters of drinking water per day. From one week to the next, we were unable to supply even 1 liter. And if people don’t have clean water, they will try to drink what they have. And if the water is not drinkable, it can certainly cause problems.”
In the struggle for the minimum necessary to survive, the doctor recalled a dramatic scene that summarizes the scenario of devastation in Gaza.
“One of the situations that I remember was one time when we were returning from the hospital and there were a lot of people gathering around the truck that was distributing water. I remember a scene of a little child, she must have been around 6, 7 years old at most, running desperately with her empty water jug trying to get water. This happens a lot because the parents are usually trying to work and when the children see the truck, they know they have to get water.
This child had a very apprehensive look on her face, because she was tiny and there was a crowd. She was carrying a gallon, afraid of going into that crowd to get water, not just for herself, for her family. Maybe she couldn’t get that water, a basic thing that we don’t even imagine, right? “
According to the UN, more than 320,000 children face the risk of acute malnutrition. Furthermore, 80% of the buildings in the Gaza Strip are totally or partially destroyed. The number represents an average for the entire enclave and becomes even higher when only the city of Gaza is taken into account, the largest in the region where 92% of the buildings were shaken.
Reconstruction can take years and be very expensive. Estimates vary widely: some say 30 or even 70 billion dollars. Paulo Reis reports that this is an unprecedented situation in recent conflicts
“I’ve been to others in other areas of conflict. I’ve been to Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan. And there’s no comparison. I’ve never seen anything like this. Sometimes, it feels like we’re in a fiction film, everything destroyed… I’ve never seen anything like this.”
