Middle EastAnalysis

As death toll in Gaza climbs to 21,000, Palestinian president says situation is ‘beyond a catastrophe’

In his first interview since the war with Israel began, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas blames US for prolonging the conflict

Egyptian truck drivers hauling humanitarian aid wait to cross into Gaza at the Kerem Shalom crossing after arriving from Egypt. Photograph: Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images

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Michael Jansen
Wed Dec 27 2023 - 17:30

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has described the situation in Gaza as “beyond a catastrophe” and “beyond a war off annihilation”. Abbas made the remarks in an interview on Egyptian television – his first since the war began in October.

Abbas said the war was unprecedented in the history of the Palestinian people, half of whom were displaced during Israel’s 1948 war of establishment.

As the Gaza ministry for health reported Palestinian deaths had climbed to 21,000, Abbas blamed the United States for prolonging the conflict by threatening to veto last week’s United Nations Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire.

After days of wrangling, the council called for unspecified steps to “create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” and demanded that “all parties to the conflict allow and facilitate the use of all available routes to and throughout the entire Gaza Strip, for the provision of humanitarian assistance”. Veteran Dutch politician and UN official Sigrid Kaag has been appointed as humanitarian co-ordinator for Gaza. Ms Kaag, who will lead the UN’s efforts to bring aid to the Strip, is an Arabic speaker who has served in Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon.

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Instead of scaling down its Gaza offensive to permit the entry and dispersal of urgently needed food, water, and medicine, Israel has increased its air strikes and ground operations. More than 576,000 Gazans, out of a population of 2.3 million, are at starvation levels and full-scale famine could grip Gaza the in coming weeks, according to the UN.

Since December 17th when Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing – adding to the limited aid deliveries through Egypt’s Rafah crossing – the average number of laden lorries entering Gaza daily has fluctuated between 100-200. This is far below the 500 daily crossings before the war. UN relief agency spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the BBC that Israeli goods inspections take too long.

World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain said: “Pretty much everybody in Gaza is hungry.”

After Israel gave provisional permission for a direct maritime humanitarian corridor from the Cypriot port of Larnaca to Gaza, an initial shipment of European aid on British naval vessel RFA Lyme Bay has berthed in Malta. Although inspected by Israeli agents at Larnaca before departing in mid-December, the vessel awaits Israeli permission to sail to Gaza.

Delivering aid within Gaza is also problematic, as 85 per cent of Gazans have not only been displaced but have also been forced by Israel to move from place to place to avoid bombing and fighting. Before aid reaches UN warehouses for distribution, desperate youths have boarded lorries and tossed boxes of supplies to waiting crowds.

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