The non-governmental organization Oxfam denounces that Israel is promoting the final stages of ethnic cleansing in the north of the Gaza Strip and, like other humanitarian organizations, the entity has been unable to access the site for around 50 days to provide assistance to around 50 thousand to 75 thousand people who are estimated to still live in the north of the Palestinian territory.
“Our team in Gaza has been trying desperately for almost two months to reach starving civilians, but has been blocked by the Israeli Army. We know that many children are trapped and will die of hunger”, said the executive director of Oxfam, Amitabh Behar, in a statement released this Wednesday (27).
The term ethnic cleansing is used to describe the removal or elimination of certain ethnic groups from a region. Oxfam is part of a group of international agencies that denounce that they are prevented from entering northern Gaza since Israel intensified the siege there, starting on October 6th.
“Israel is building infrastructure for a long-term military presence – a de facto annexation of the land – and destroying any remaining hope for a just and peaceful solution,” Behar charges.
The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa), banned from Israel in Octoberconfirms that there is a blockade of humanitarian aid in the north of the Gaza Strip since the beginning of October.
According to the latest bulletin from the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), the UN attempted to bring humanitarian aid 41 times to northern Gaza between November 1 and 25, with 37 missions previously denied.
“Four [missões] were initially approved, but then severely impeded on the spot, so that assistance could not be delivered to people trapped in the besieged area. Since the tight siege began in early October, none of the UN’s attempts to support the besieged people in that area have been fully facilitated,” Ocha reported.
For its part, Israel denies the accusations and says it has allowed humanitarian aid to enter the territory. On Sunday (24), the Israel Defense Forces reported that they transferred 323 patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital, which would have received fuel and medical supplies.
“[Israel] continues to act in accordance with international law to facilitate and support humanitarian responses for Gaza residents, particularly in the medical area,” the Israeli government said in a statement.
This Wednesday, the Israeli army reported that it is continuing military operations in the north of the territory. “Artillery hit dozens of Hamas weapons storage facilities, military structures and significant terrorist infrastructure sites overnight,” it said.
Forced displacement
Oxfam estimates that 100,000 people have been expelled from northern Gaza in recent weeks, and reports that the organization’s employees have been trying to help these families.
“Forced transfers south to the neighboring region around Gaza City have created such massive overcrowding that conditions there are now akin to famine,” the organization says.
The Oxfam team in the city of Gaza, in the central area of the strip, says that the situation there is extreme hunger. “The people who have been displaced from the north are in a really alarming state. Meanwhile, the southern part of Gaza seems like a country completely separate from us”, says the entity.
“As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is bound by international humanitarian law to provide for the needs and protection of the population of Gaza,” recalls Oxfam.
