Israel exacerbating crisis by blocking aid, targeting hospitals and schools: Gaza media office

Gaza's media office  says the Israeli regime is intentionally worsening the humanitarian crisis by blocking aid entry, after shutting down the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings with Egypt, and is attacking hospitals and schools in the eastern part of the border.

Tel Aviv’s occupation regime has opted to intensify the humanitarian crisis by escalating the genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of over 35 civilians, including women and children, within the past 12 hours, a brutal campaign spanning from the northern to the southern regions of the Gaza Strip.

“The occupation has also halted the entry of aid and closed the Rafah and "Kerem Shalom" crossings. It has put hospitals out of service and targeted schools sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced people by designating them as targets,” Gaza government’s media office said.

It reported the situation in the eastern part of the Rafah governorate indicates a severe humanitarian crisis, not only limited to Rafah but also affecting all the governorates in the Gaza Strip, which have been enduring a prolonged period of distress, characterized by widespread hunger, deprivation, and a critical lack of essential resources and assistance for the past seven months.

The Israeli occupation forces’ decision to cease assistance and shut down the border crossings has significantly exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, requiring swift and urgent international action to compel the occupying force to cease its aggression, end the violence, and put an end to the genocidal conflict targeting innocent civilians, including children and women.

While condemning the brutal occupation’s atrocities against Gazans by barring the border gates and halting aid, the media cell accused the United States and the international communities responsible for enabling Israel commit the horrendous acts of crimes against humanity.

“We hold the American administration, the international community, and the Israeli occupation fully responsible for this ongoing aggression against the civilians of our Palestinian people, and for the continuation of the genocide in which the American administration is engaged and which the international community has failed to stop over the course of seven continuous months,” it said.

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It further urged the world nations to “condemn this new crime” by pressuring Tel Aviv against escalating its unending genocide, and to make aid accessible to Gazans by unlocking the gates at the Rafah border.

“We urge the whole world to condemn this new crime of forced eviction of homes and properties and the threat to continue killing and committing massacres against civilians, especially children and women,” Gaza’s media wing said.

“We demand that all free countries of the world pressure the occupation to stop the aggression on Rafah, stop the genocide war, and open the crossings for the movement of travelers, goods, and aid, before a real humanitarian disaster occurs in the eastern part of the Rafah governorate, a disaster for which the world would bear responsibility.”

On Monday, despite international warnings and Hamas's accepting a ceasefire proposal put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, Israel launched its full scale invasion against the Rafah border crossing by pounding the area early Tuesday and deploying military tanks.

UN agencies and humanitarian organizations are cautioning about the severe impact that an Israeli military operation in Rafah could have, following the evacuation orders given to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

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