Two million people in Gaza now confined to 15 square miles: WSJ
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As "Israel" broadens its onslaught into formerly designated "safe zones", it continues to push Palestinians into smaller and smaller sections of the Strip.
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A tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the Israeli offensive is seen in Rafah in Gaza on February 27, 2024. (AP)
"Israel's" increased aggression in Gaza is confining Palestinians into ever-smaller portions of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians in Gaza have long lived in one of the world's most densely populated areas, and since "Israel" launched its war on Gaza over 10 months ago, the space in which they remain has shrunk drastically.
As "Israel" broadens its onslaught into formerly designated "safe zones", it continues to push Palestinians into smaller and smaller sections of the strip.
This month, 9 evacuation orders have been issued, encompassing locations the IOF had already classified as "humanitarian zones".
The United Nations estimates that these directives have affected 213,000 people, which means, according to the WSJ, that Gaza's 2.2 million residents are now mostly restricted to a region of around 15 square miles, less than Manhattan's footprint.
At the beginning of the year, evacuation orders led Palestinians to shelter in regions representing nearly 33% of the strip, according to the UN. However, they are now reduced to just 11% of Gaza, roughly the size of Philadelphia.
The diminishing space for Palestinians to take asylum is raising concerns about disease outbreaks and deteriorating living conditions in the few places where they may find safety, if any.
Bushra Khalidi, a policy lead at Oxfam, a nonprofit operating in Gaza, revealed that “this means there is going to be more disease, more pressure on whatever facilities exist."
Poliovirus has emerged as a new source of worry regarding population density.
Last week, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported the first incidence of poliovirus in the Gaza Strip's southern governorates.
According to a press statement, the instance involved a 10-month-old infant who had not received any vaccination for polio in the city of Deir al-Balah after the newborn exhibited symptoms identical to those of polio as suspected by doctors. Tests in Amman indicated that the infant had contracted a type of vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV).
The Ministry confirmed that it would launch a critical polio vaccination campaign in the coming days aimed at children under the age of ten, noting that 1,200,000 type 2 polio vaccine doses had been secured in collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
It further stressed, however, that the Strip is facing a severe health crisis due to the ongoing Israeli aggression, which has led to a lack of basic hygiene, sanitation, and clean drinking water.
“This reduction in space, combined with overcrowding, heightened insecurity, inadequate and overstretched infrastructure, ongoing hostilities, and limited services is exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation,” the UN said.
This has created conditions conducive to the spread of epidemics, including water-borne diseases like VDPV. The situation has resulted in waste accumulation on streets and around shelters, further exacerbating the health risks.
Ongoing war hinders children polio vaccination: Gaza hospital director
Last week, the director of Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Khan Younis, Marwan al-Hams, announced in a statement to Al Mayadeen that Gaza has become an epidemic area that may eventually spill out to neighboring countries.
He stated that the war on Gaza by "Israel" is not only preventing medical teams from moving and reaching the displaced, but the possibility of vaccinating the children has become almost non-existent.
He urged the world to help stop the spread of polio in Gaza which would subsequently stop its spread to neighboring countries.
Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Dr. al-Hams held the occupation responsible for the spread of the epidemic, as a result of its ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip, alongside the war of human extermination it is waging against the Palestinians after destroying the infrastructure and bulldozing sewage drains, which led to the flow of sewage water between the tents of the displaced.
The Israeli aggression also resulted in the lack of potable water and personal hygiene necessities, according to the doctor who attributed the shortages to the siege imposed by the occupation on the Strip.
Al-Hams designated the Gaza Strip an "epidemic zone", warning all countries in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and "Israel", of the spread of polio in them if the occupation does not stop its war on the Gaza Strip right now.
The Gaza doctor confirmed to Al Mayadeen that the occupation obstructed the entry of polio vaccines into the Gaza Strip and obstructed the work of medical teams by preventing them from working among the displaced, thus hindering the efforts of the health sector in Gaza to carry out a campaign to vaccinate 600,000 children under the age of ten.
Most notably, the director of the hospital revealed that the Israeli occupation deliberately bombed centers designed for freezing embryos in Gaza and eliminated all sperm.
"The Israeli occupation has banned the entry of all vaccines into #Gaza. Preventing a polio outbreak in the Strip is crucial to stop it from spreading to neighboring countries."
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 17, 2024
- Marwan al-Hams, the director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Khan Younis, to #AlMayadeen https://t.co/WJRKrL4t0D
