For many Palestinians in Gaza, the fear of Israeli airstrikes has become secondary to the slow, agonizing threat of starvation
The struggle for survival has morphed into a haunting and totalizing reality for Palestinian residents here in Gaza City, as it has for Palestinians across the entire Strip. Against the backdrop of intensified Israeli military attacks, the deprivation of food and water under a tightened siege, and the pervasive threat of epidemics with no medical aid, the city’s remaining inhabitants — even as they fight to stay alive — feel as if they have been left with no choice but to wait for their death.
Israeli forces are persisting in their air-and-ground offensive on Gaza, marking nearly 100 consecutive days of this devastating war. The plight is particularly dire in the northern Strip, where a severe drought and the spread of infectious diseases are exacerbating the already harrowing situation.
Israel’s deliberate isolation of the north from the south of the Strip is further preventing the transport of essential humanitarian aid, adding yet another layer of hardship in the precarious effort to survive in the north. And here in Gaza City, Palestinians — the vast majority of whom are now concentrated in shelters in the western part of the city — are voicing their growing desperation, grappling not only with the immediate perils of the war but also with its ensuing terrors. [Continue reading…]