{"id":290114,"date":"2023-10-26T10:36:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=290114"},"modified":"2023-10-27T10:37:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T14:37:23","slug":"israel-palestine-gazans-left-with-nothing-but-impossible-choices-news-item","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/israel-palestine-gazans-left-with-nothing-but-impossible-choices-news-item\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel-Palestine: Gazans \u2018left with nothing but impossible choices\u2019 – News Item"},"content":{"rendered":"
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26 October 2023<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Day 19 of the Gaza conflict comes on the heels of the deadliest 24 hours so far amid hospitals shutting down, while Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarians reiterated urgent calls on Thursday for all civilians to be protected and hostages released.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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UPDATED:<\/strong>\u00a0Reports of an overnight Israeli military incursion using tanks in northern Gaza followed another series of calls by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for civilians in Gaza City to evacuate \u2013 warnings which \u201cmake no difference\u201d because \u201cpeople have nowhere to go or are unable to move<\/strong>\u201d, according to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u2019s top humanitarian official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings.<\/p>\n

\u2018Nowhere is safe\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen the evacuation routes are bombed, when people north as well as south are caught up in hostilities, when the essentials for survival are lacking, and when there are no assurances for return,\u00a0people are left with nothing but impossible choices<\/strong>\u201d,\u00a0she said<\/a>, insisting that \u201cnowhere is safe in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Ms. Hastings appealed for the protection of civilians in armed conflict and reiterated calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the more than 220 people held captive by Hamas since the group\u2019s deadly incursion into Israel on 7 October.<\/p>\n

That terror attack left more than 1,400 dead, drawing widespread and immediate condemnation from top Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ officials including Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u00a0Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Medical support for hostages<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Little is known about the status of the captives, and after meeting with some of their families on Wednesday Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ health agency\u00a0WHO<\/a>\u00a0chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that \u201cthere is an urgent need for the captors of the hostages to provide signs of life, proof of provision of health care and the immediate release, on humanitarian and health grounds, of all those abducted\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) should be granted immediate access to the hostages to understand their health status, and\u00a0WHO\u00a0stands ready to provide the ICRC with health support for the hostages, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI committed, on behalf of WHO, to do all we can to support the health and humanitarian needs of those being held captive,\u201d Tedros insisted.<\/p>\n

Record death toll<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile the heaviest death toll yet from Gaza was reported on Wednesday by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which said that 756 were killed, including 344 children, bringing total fatalities in the territory to 6,547 since the start of Israel\u2019s retaliation for Hamas\u2019 attacks on 7 October.<\/p>\n

With bombardments continuing, according to Gaza\u2019s de facto authorities, some\u00a01,600 people including 900 children have been reported missing<\/strong>\u00a0and may be under the rubble.<\/p>\n

Bodies in tents<\/h3>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarian affairs coordination office\u00a0OCHA<\/a>\u00a0said that while visiting a hospital in Gaza, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ personnel saw hundreds of wounded men, women and children.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of them were unconscious, with open wounds \u2013 lying on beds, stretchers and on the floor \u2013 with limited medical attendance,\u201d while tens of dead bodies were being kept in a tent in the yard because morgues are full, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ office said.<\/p>\n

The ongoing fuel blockade and lack of water, medical supplies and personnel are forcing hospitals to wind down operations, OCHA said. Humanitarians also warned that people were resorting to drinking saltwater which posed \u201cimmediate health risks\u201d.<\/p>\n

As of Wednesday the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ World Food Programme (WFP<\/a>) estimated that \u201ccurrent supplies of essential food in Gaza are sufficient for about 12 days\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Al Shifa hospital is being used as shelter for displaced families in Gaza.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Convoy lifeline<\/h3>\n

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday that over four consecutive days, from Saturday through Tuesday, 62 trucks traveled through the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza, carrying water, food and medical supplies, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Spokesperson announced at the regular noon briefing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of this aid has already reached hospitals, ambulances, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, the daily average of trucks allowed into Gaza prior to the hostilities was about 500\u201d, said\u00a0St\u00e9phane Dujarric.<\/p>\n

An estimated 1.4 million people in Gaza are internally displaced, with some 629,000 sheltering in 150 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA-designated emergency shelters.<\/p>\n

Water supply through the network in areas south of Wadi Gaza has temporarily improved, he said, after Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA and\u00a0Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵICEF<\/a>\u00a0managed to deliver small quantities of fuel they had retrieved from their existing reserves to key facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the available fuel in these facilities will be exhausted, fairly soon, and the supply of piped water is expected to cease again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebanon border: Firing continues<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ peacekeeping Mission in South Lebanon (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵIFIL<\/a>) remains in continuous contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line \u2013 the unofficial frontier between Israel and south Lebanon \u2013 \u201cto urge restraint and respect for Security Council Resolution 1701\u201d, Mr. Dujarric said.<\/p>\n

The Mission reported that earlier today, it detected firing between Lebanese territory and Israel, near Blida and near Aytaroun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have also been working together with Lebanese authorities to extinguish fires burning near Alma ash-Shaab, as a result of the exchange of fire along the Blue Line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inaction on Security Council<\/h3>\n

On Wednesday night in New York, the\u00a0Security Council<\/a>\u00a0failed once again<\/a>\u00a0to find consensus over even a unified call for a humanitarian ceasefire.<\/p>\n

The head of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Palestine refugee agency Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, whose agency has now lost at least 35 staff members during the ongoing Israeli bombardment, said in an opinion piece published on Thursday morning that “history will ask why the world did not have the courage to act decisively and stop this hell on Earth.”<\/p>\n

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ refugee agency (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵHCR<\/a>) chief Filippo Grandi\u00a0tweeted that<\/a>\u00a0the work aid workers are doing in Gaza “is nothing short of heroic”, calling for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA to get the resources it needs “because not only is it a lifeline for thousands but it also represents one of the last shreds of humanity amidst the devastation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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26 October 2023 Day 19 of the Gaza conflict comes on the heels of the deadliest 24 hours so far amid hospitals shutting down, while Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ humanitarians reiterated urgent calls on Thursday for all civilians to be protected and hostages released. UPDATED:\u00a0Reports of an overnight Israeli military incursion using tanks in northern Gaza followed another […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2477],"document-source":[6169],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1769,5449,1829,2005,6845],"entity":[],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-290114","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-news-item","document-source-united-nations-department-of-global-communications","document-subject-armed-conflict","document-subject-assistance-to-the-palestinian-people","document-subject-casualties","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-protection-of-civilians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290143,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/290114\/revisions\/290143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=290114"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=290114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}