International human rights and humanitarian agencies have expressed horror at Israel’s attacks on Gaza that killed more than 400 Palestinians this week, including many children, and shattered the ceasefire.
A UNICEF statement said reports and images from the Gaza Strip following Israel’s attacks on 18 March were “beyond horrifying”.
“Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, including more than 130 children, representing one of the largest single-day child death toll in the last year,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“Some of the strikes reportedly hit makeshift shelters with sleeping children and families, another deadly reminder that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
“The latest attacks come as lifesaving aid remains blocked from entering Gaza, compounding the risks to children. It has been 16 days since the last truck delivering humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza. In addition, electricity has been cut to the main desalination plant, significantly reducing the amount of potable water.
“Today, Gaza’s one million children – who have endured more than 15 months of war – have been plunged back into a world of fear and death. The attacks and the violence must stop – now.
“We urge all parties to immediately reinstate the ceasefire, and we call on countries with influence to use their leverage to ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.
“International humanitarian law must be respected by all parties, allowing the immediate provision of humanitarian aid, the protection of civilians, and the release of all hostages.”
Unspeakable horror
An Amnesty International statement on 18 March said 174 Palestinian children had been killed with more than 550 children hospitalised, and entire families wiped out.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said: “Today is a desperately dark day for humanity.
“Palestinians in Gaza – who have barely had a chance to start piecing together their lives and continue to grapple with the trauma of Israel’s past attacks – have woken up once more to the hellish nightmare of intense bombardment.
“The world cannot stand by and allow Israel to continue inflicting staggering levels of death and suffering on Palestinians in Gaza.”
Callamard said Amnesty International’s researchers spoke to medical staff working at three hospitals in Gaza City and North Gaza governorate “who described scenes of unspeakable horror beginning in the early hours of the morning”.
Al-Shifa, once the largest medical complex in Gaza, now largely destroyed by past Israeli military raids, had only three beds to receive the wounded.
“Al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital in Gaza City – the only hospital with a functioning intensive care unit – was forced to treat some of the 80 wounded it received in the corridors and in the hospital’s yard. The Indonesian hospital is the only hospital in north Gaza Governorate that is barely functioning. It is still in the process of being rebuilt, following Israel’s previous military campaign.
“The near-total decimation of the healthcare system in Gaza, particularly in the north, and the desperate shortages in medical equipment and supplies, exacerbated by Israel’s unlawful siege, effectively means a death sentence for many of those with serious injuries and illnesses, including those that in normal conditions would be easily curable. All the while, Israeli authorities continue to impose extremely tight restrictions on medical evacuations outside Gaza.”
Callamard said that since 2 March, Israel had re-imposed a total siege on Gaza blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid, medicine, and commercial supplies, including fuel and food, in violation of international law.
Israel has also cut off electricity to Gaza’s main operational desalination plant.
Callamard said the resumption of Israel’s attacks also puts at risk the lives of the 24 remaining Israeli hostages who are believed to be alive.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its teams had received hundreds of wounded patients in Gaza, and many more who arrived at facilities dead on arrival.
Claire Magone, General Director of MSF France, said: “We are horrified by the attacks launched by Israel today on the people of Gaza, shattering the nearly two-month-old ceasefire.
“In line with the tactics that the Israeli authorities have applied since October 2023, they have once again chosen to collectively punish the people of Gaza – with the explicit approval of their closest ally, the United States – striking with an intensity not seen since the early stages of the war.
“For over 15 months, before the ceasefire, people in Gaza were indiscriminately killed, mutilated, wounded, and displaced.
“Israeli forces undertaking these latest ruthless attacks and evacuation orders make us fear that a new phase of military operations in Gaza is about to begin. Palestinians in Gaza will simply not be able to withstand this, neither physically nor mentally. Their hopes of recovering at least part of their previous lives are being shattered.”
Magone said that since the ceasefire came into effect on 19 January, people had been struggling to restore the basics of their day to day lives after a drawn out, devastating military campaign.
MSF calls for the ceasefire to be immediately restored and for the blockade to be lifted, so people can regain unrestricted access to basic supplies and aid.
“Injured people and patients requiring urgent medical care should be allowed to seek care outside of Gaza, provided their right to a safe and dignified return is granted,” Magone said.
Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the latest Israeli attacks were “unconscionable”, and a ceasefire must be reinstated immediately.
“People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering,” he said. “An end to hostilities, sustained humanitarian assistance, release of the hostages and the restoration of basic services and people’s livelihoods, are the only way forward.”
Dr Razan al-Nahhas, an American emergency room physician on her second medical mission in Gaza, has described the impact of the ongoing attacks, as a volunteer at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City.
She told a US media organisation, WBUR, of seeing children with devastating injuries: “The most unimaginable things – things that I never saw, and I never expected to see in my life. We don’t have the ability to deliver the appropriate care that we would otherwise in any other environment.”
The trauma is exacerbated by the children’s malnourished condition, she said.
“I’m seeing children that are coming in and they’re skin and bones. So even if I were able to save the 6-month-old or this 1-year-old’s life, wound healing requires adequate nutrition. I know just by looking at them that their little, fragile, malnourished bodies are not going to be able to heal or recover from any injury – it could be the simplest wound. They’re probably going to die because their bodies are not capable right now of wound healing and recovery.”
Humanitarian workers under fire
Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has called for a full investigation into the death of a United Nations Office for Project Services staff member in a strike that also seriously injured five other UN personnel.
At least 280 UN staffers have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
The locations of all UN premises are known to the parties to the conflict, who are bound by international law to protect them and maintain their absolute inviolability, the UN statement said.
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