Gaza faces major humanitarian crisis, Egypt’s Representative to UN

CAIRO – 16 March 2024: The situation in the Gaza Strip represents a significant humanitarian crisis, particularly concerning human rights and public health, said Egypt's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Ambassador Ahmed Ihab Gamal El Dien Saturday as reported by the Egyptian state-owned news agency MENA.

The Egyptian representative delivered a speech on behalf of 128 states at the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, addressing the worsening conditions faced by women and girls in the occupied Palestinian territories, MENA added. He called upon international organizations to intervene to hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Israel has killed 31,553 Palestinians and injured 73,546 others in the Gaza Strip since the 7th of October 2023: the Palestinian Ministry of Health stated in a brief statement, on Saturday.

The Israeli occupation forces committed seven massacres against families in the Gaza Strip and resulted in killing 63 people and injuring 112 others who were admitted to hospitals over the past 24 hours, the statement added.

Other victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them, the statement said.

The indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas witnessed a new breakthrough after the Palestinian movement Hamas presented to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, Al Qahera news reported. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans for a military ground offensive in the Palestinian Rafah, and the Israeli army was preparing for it as per Netanyahu's Office.

Due to the ongoing war and Israeli restrictions, residents of Gaza, particularly in the Gaza and North governorates, are facing severe famine with shortages of food, water, medicine, and fuel supplies, leading to the displacement of about two million Palestinians from the Strip, which has been under siege by Israel for 17 years.