A wave of deadly Israeli airstrikes this last week has taken hundreds of lives in Gaza.
Over 124 people were killed with many hundreds left injured when the Al Mawasi area in Khan Younis, the Ash Shati’ (Beach) Refugee Camp, west of Gaza City, and an UNRWA school at An Nuseirat were targeted on Saturday and Sunday, 13th and 14th July.
On Monday and Tuesday, 15th & 16th, further attacks hit an UNRWA school in Al Rimal, Gaza City; another UNRWA school in Nuseirat Camp, Middle Gaza; and a street in Al Mawasi area in Khan Younis, killing 59 Palestinians and injuring at least 76 others.
Ajith Sunghay, the Head of UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory issued a statement following these latest atrocities.
He said: “The people of Gaza are suffering immensely. It truly is desperate.” The statement is a harrowing account of seeing what is happening to the people of Gaza.
“One elderly woman, who fled from Gaza City on 11 July, said her husband was detained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at a checkpoint on his way to Deir Al Balah. She had no idea about his fate. Several others shared similar stories.”
Israeli forces continue to destroy any particle of infrastructure that lingers on including the killing of those who can provide help and support to the people of Gaza.
“Our Office has documented alleged unlawful killings of local police and humanitarian workers, and the strangulation of supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Anarchy is spreading.”
And yet in amongst the poorest of makeshift shelters and struggle for survival, families are still trying to provide some semblance of education for their children.
“Some informal education under tarpaulins and plastic sheets in the sweltering heat has begun. These nascent efforts to provide for children’s right to education must be nurtured and supported.”
“The continued attacks by Israel, the administrative rules imposed by Israel that impede the entry and delivery of daily essentials, permit rejections, hostile environment due to the war and the breakdown in civil order raises enormous challenges for any meaningful humanitarian response to the mammoth needs of the people and provide any protection.”
Ten months on into the devastation and war crimes being committed disease and starvation stalk those trying to survive. Christian Lindmeier, spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), reported that vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) had been identified at six locations in sewage samples collected on 23 June from Khan Younis and Deir al Balah.
Wild poliovirus was eradicated more than 25 years ago from Gaza thanks to a comprehensive inoculation campaign; pre-war vaccination coverage was 95 per cent in 2022, according to WHO.
Repeated mass displacement and the “decimation of the health system, lack of security, access obstruction, constant population displacement, shortages of medical supplies, poor quality of water and weakened sanitation” have created the “perfect environment” for vaccine-preventable diseases to spread – with polio just one of them – Christian Lindmeier said.
Communications Officer Oliver Rosenbauer, of WHO’s global Polio Eradication programme, explained that polio virus can emerge in areas where poor vaccination coverage allows the weakened form of the orally administered vaccine virus strain to mutate into a stronger version capable of causing paralysis.
“We have genetic markers to indicate when that happens. And so these isolates that were found…have genetically mutated to the point where they could cause paralysis,” he said. “It’s not a wild (virus) but it’s still a poliovirus in the sense that it can also cause the same paralysis.”
In Orkney two events will take place this weekend. On Saturday 20th July, islanders will again meet in a vigil on the Kirk Green, outside St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, from 1 to 2pm calling for an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid. The organisers extend a welcome to anyone who wishes to join them. Several visitors to Orkney do join the vigil each week.
On Sunday 21st July from 3pm Edwin and Nadia Heath are opening their Memorial Garden to the Children of Gaza to members of the public. You can find out about that here: Forthcoming Gardening Event For #Gaza
On Thursday the Israeli Knesset passed a resolution opposing Palestinian statehood. As the atrocities and genocide continues – hostages are still being held, a two state solution has been agreed by the international community as the only long lasting solution. The declaration in the Knesset, which won the support of 68 members was opposed by only nine. The UN’s Stéphane Dujarric said that the decision taken by the Knesset “is clearly inconsistent with the UN resolutions, international law and prior agreements”
Also this week the head of UNRWA welcomed the decision by the newly elected Government of the United Kingdom to resume funding of the agency “at a critical time as the Agency continues to come under harsh and unprecedented attacks”. Only the United States has yet to reverse its decision on funding UNRWA.
Some images from the vigil held in Orkney on Saturday 13th July.
Fiona Grahame