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An update from Salma Altaweel, NRC’s Support Manager in Gaza City:
“There is nothing left that resembles life in northern Gaza. All hospitals have been either damaged or destroyed. Small clinics are treating some cases, but even those are underequipped and can’t offer the services or medication needed. There is no fuel for vehicles so the injured need to be transported by donkey cart.
“We have been through two major famine-like scenarios; the first time was during the complete siege during Ramadan, when we had no flour, no tinned food. We saw people who lost 10-20 kilograms; their bones became visible. The second instance is the one we are going through right now – all we have is tinned food that is neither nutritious nor sufficient. There is very little aid trickling through, there are no vegetables available, let alone fruit or meat. If we are lucky, we get two meals a day. For breakfast, tea, one piece of bread and zaatar without any oil, and for dinner, tinned food.
“When you see the stampedes around the only two aid trucks to arrive in weeks, how children are unable to stand up and walk on their feet, the deaths as a result of malnutrition, and the wasting among children, there is no doubt what is happening here.
“Prices are beyond reach for people who have lost their income. One egg sells for 8 ILS (2.20 USD), if you can find onions, they are 200 ILS (55 USD) per one kg, and cooking gas is 150 ILS per litre (41.40 USD).
“Hostilities could break out any moment. Most Israeli operations begin after midnight so people just run anywhere they can to seek safety. That next place is often worse than where they had just been. Wewait there, sometimes for two weeks, until the operations have finished. We spend most of that time in the streets or wherever may be safer. Being two or three streets away from these operations is as safe as it gets in North Gaza. Sometimes we spend three days in one place before we are ordered to relocate, sometimes we stay two or three months in the same area. My family has been displaced 11 times.
“The economy and commerce are dead here and cash liquidity is non-existent. Water treatment stations are not working. Sewage water floods the streets, and there is garbage everywhere. Diseases such as hepatitis A are spreading and there is no medicine or food to help people recover. Wherever you go, you are breathing toxic smoke. Fires break out almost daily as incendiary bombs are dropped on homes.
“This is the first time I find myself unable to offer help to others. It pains me as an aid worker that I can’t do much for others. In all past escalations, I would still go out and serve those who needed help. As hostilities continue, little attention has been given to the entire generation that we are losing. It will take years to rebuild all the destroyed schools. For education to resume, we will need two, three years. I have school-aged children, and I fear what is going to happen to them without an education.”
Latest updates from NRC teams in Gaza:
- Following the Israeli military’s 22 July relocation order, an estimated 150,000 people from 32 blocks have moved from eastern Khan Younis to Al-Mawasi and downtown areas.
- Humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Gaza have consistently reported that Israel’s systematic obstruction of aid and its ongoing attacks on aid operations, including facilities, personnel, and distribution points, have prevented the effective delivery to people in need. Learn more about the operational challenges humanitarian agencies in Gaza are facing here.
- Due to Israeli restrictions and breakdown of law and order, NRC has not received any aid at its warehouse since 3 May.
NRC response since 5 July:
- NRC’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programme has been delivering drinking water in Gaza – providing 168 cubic metres of safe drinking water daily to 43,000 IDPs in 17 makeshift sites in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
- NRC has commenced manufacturing of 120 emergency latrines - using local suppliers - and to be installed in underserved collective centres.
- NRC partnered with the local n to provide essential household non-food items, such as bedding sets and hygiene kits, to 486 displaced families living in makeshift sites.
- NRC’s Education in Emergencies programme resumed in four IDP sites in Deir al-Balah, which aims to address the education and psychosocial needs of 2,000 children. The programme includes recreational activities and NRC’s flagship Better Learning Programme.
Multimedia content:
- Photos and videos from Gaza can be downloaded for free use here.
For information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
- NRC's global media hotline: media@nrc.no, +47 905 62 329
