Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

3-minute read
13 October 2023 | 14:07 CAT

Image: Al Jazeera

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip daily, entering its fifth day on Wednesday and announced a “total” blockade of the already besieged Gaza Strip, including a ban on food and water, after Hamas carried the biggest attack on the country in decades.

Speaking to Radio Islam from Jerusalem, Palestinian Activist Adnan Barq said, “As usual, during any escalation, the Israeli soldiers and the government always implement the collective punishment on everyone.”

“In Jerusalem, we are seeing young Palestinians who are just walking to fulfill their needs of shopping and going to their works are being stopped by Israeli soldiers in the corners of the streets and publicly carrying out physical inspections deeming them suspicious,” he added.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is “dire,” with food and water in limited supply and “quickly running out,” the deputy head of emergencies of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Brian Lander, said Thursday.

The UN agency is on the ground and is “responding and we’re providing food to thousands of people that have sought shelter in schools and elsewhere across the territory. But we’re going to run out very soon,” Lander warned.

“We don’t have access to the Gaza Strip that’s been closed down. We’re looking to ensure that we can have means to deliver to these people as the crisis evolves,” Lander said.
Lander said that WFP is “very worried” about how the situation will evolve, particularly if the humanitarian situation is not addressed.

“The people that are seeking shelter and striving to survive in this environment are only going to get worse and worse situations as time goes on. And I think our concern is that unless we’re able to access those communities, the people that are in need, the civilian population, there’s going to be an extreme situation for them, both in terms of having the food to survive, the water to survive and the other services even shelter over their heads,” he added.

At least 1,417 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, and over 6,200 have been injured since the Israel-Hamas war began, Palestinian health officials said Thursday.

Of the dead, nearly 450 are children and 250 are women.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.