According to Anadolu Agency, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Friday that the level of bombardment of people in Gaza is at its highest level since World War II.
“The plight of the Palestine refugees,”
UNRWA said in a statement commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,
“remains the longest unresolved refugee crisis in the world.”
“In the past year, Gaza has experienced the most intense bombardment of a civilian population since World War II,”
it said.
The UN General Assembly enacted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, creating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which has been recognized by the UN since 1977. The resolution demanded that Palestine be divided into “Jewish” and “Arab” states.
Gaza Faces Historic Bombardment
Since October of last year, Israel’s barbaric attack on the Gaza Strip has murdered over 44,300 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children, and injured over 104,900 more. With politicians and organizations characterizing the bombings and halting of relief delivery as a purposeful attempt to wipe off a community, the second year of genocide in Gaza has received increasing international criticism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were both subject to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. As Israeli forces increased their shelling of core neighborhoods as tanks advanced more into the north and south of the enclave, medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic that at least 42 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks throughout the Gaza Strip. According to medical professionals cited by the Reuters news agency on Thursday, four people were killed when an Israeli attack struck a motorbike in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, and six people were killed in two airstrikes on a house and close to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
UN Warns of Unprecedented Gaza Strikes
At least five individuals were later killed and injured in an Israeli airstrike that struck close to a tent camp in eastern Khan Younis that was sheltering displaced families. Israeli airplanes conducted multiple airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp, damaging a multistory structure and striking roads near mosques. Health authorities at the camp’s al-Awda Hospital said the attacks killed at least 11 individuals. In a statement, they said that ongoing tank fire prevented medics from reaching the scores of people who were stranded in their houses when tanks moved in from the camp’s northern section. The United Nations issued a warning that over two million people were stranded in the Gaza Strip, with limited access to food and no safe drinking water, as Israel intensified its assault of the beleaguered area. Famine is on the horizon, and food is in short supply. The majority of Gaza’s water supply is unfit for human consumption. Families are staying in abandoned houses or in the open because they have nowhere else to go,” the UN stated. Families in central Gaza have been subsisting on dates and drinking water for days.
Gaza Sees Worst Bombing Post-WWII
Additionally, residents have been saying that their loved ones have been trapped beneath the wreckage of their homes after being hit by Israeli fighter planes and artillery and unable to be evacuated. A day after Israel and the Lebanese armed organization Hezbollah signed a truce, ending almost a year of conflict and giving many Gazan Palestinians optimism for a similar agreement between Israel and Hamas, the enclave’s ruling party, Israel’s attacks on Gaza raged on. Negotiations for a ceasefire have been going on for months, but not much has changed. US President Joe Biden encouraged Israel and Hamas to take advantage of the opportunity as he announced the Lebanon agreement on Tuesday and said he would now redouble his efforts to secure a truce in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated late Thursday that there has been a significant improvement in the circumstances surrounding the negotiations to obtain the release of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip. In an interview with local Channel 14, Netanyahu responded, “I think the conditions have very much changed for the better,” when asked about a potential agreement.
Gaza Under Unmatched Assault
Since October 2023, Israel’s attack on Gaza has resulted in at least 44,330 Palestinian deaths and 104,933 injuries. After Hamas-led strikes on Israel on October 7, 2023, killed at least 1,139 people and captured over 250 more, Israel declared war. The Europa League match between Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv and Besiktas was played without incident in front of empty stands in Hungary. The stadium was closed to fans due to security concerns after attacks on Israeli supporters in Amsterdam this month. On a chilly and wet evening in Debrecen, the second-largest city in Hungary, Maccabi prevailed 3-1. Although police patrols were visible outside the stadium, the city’s 200,000-person population did not seem to be too secure.
