{"id":297278,"date":"2025-05-04T10:31:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T10:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/israels-total-blockade-of-gaza-has-created-catastrophic-conditions-doctors-say\/"},"modified":"2025-05-04T10:31:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T10:31:14","slug":"israels-total-blockade-of-gaza-has-created-catastrophic-conditions-doctors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/israels-total-blockade-of-gaza-has-created-catastrophic-conditions-doctors-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Total Blockade of Gaza Has Created \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 Conditions, Doctors Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/30\/multimedia\/30int-gaza-humanitarian-ktwg-promo\/30int-gaza-humanitarian-ktwg-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Israel\u2019s Total Blockade of Gaza Has Created \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 Conditions, Doctors Say\" title=\"Israel\u2019s Total Blockade of Gaza Has Created \u2018Catastrophic\u2019 Conditions, Doctors Say\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It has been more than 60 days since Israel ordered a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/02\/world\/middleeast\/israel-aid-halt-gaza.html\" title=\"\">halt to all humanitarian aid<\/a> entering Gaza \u2014 no food, fuel or even medicine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the phone calls pour in, Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza\u2019s health ministry, is running out of answers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The longer Israel\u2019s total siege of the enclave grinds on, the more doctors call to ask where they can find medicine to keep patients alive. Some patients call him up themselves \u2014 people with treatable heart problems or kidney failure \u2014 to ask: If there is no medicine, what else can they try?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s no advice I can give them,\u201d he said. \u201cIn most cases, those patients die.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel says it will not relent until Hamas releases the hostages it still holds after a two-month <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/03\/18\/world\/middleeast\/israel-strikes-gaza-cease-fire-hamas.html\" title=\"\">cease-fire collapsed<\/a> in March. It has argued that its blockade is lawful, and that Gaza still has enough available provisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But humanitarian groups and European officials accuse Israel of using aid as a \u201cpolitical tool\u201d \u2014 and warn that the total blockade <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diplomatie.gouv.fr\/en\/country-files\/israel-palestinian-territories\/news\/2025\/article\/on-50-days-of-the-aid-block-in-gaza-joint-statement-on-behalf-of-the-foreign\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">violates international law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The severity of the siege means it now affects nearly every part of the lives of the roughly two million people trapped inside Gaza, compounding the struggles of a population that has lived for nearly two decades under the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/07\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-blockade-israel.html\" title=\"\">partial blockade<\/a> imposed by Israel and backed by Egypt after Hamas seized control of the enclave in 2007.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As supplies of clean water, food and medicine dwindle, preventable diseases and illnesses are surging \u2014 and so is the likelihood of dying from them, doctors say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Aid groups are raising the alarm in increasingly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icrc.org\/en\/news-release\/israel-and-occupied-territories-after-two-months-aid-blockage-humanitarian-response-verge-collapse?utm_source=twitter\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">drastic messages<\/a>, warning that the humanitarian support for Gazans is \u201con the verge of total collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo the Israeli authorities, and those who can still reason with them, we say again: Lift this brutal blockade,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/content\/statement-gaza-tom-fletcher-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-0\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">said Tom Fletcher<\/a>, the U.N. humanitarian chief. He added: \u201cTo the civilians left unprotected, no apology can suffice. But I am truly sorry that we are unable to move the international community to prevent this injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Every morning, Gazans brace for a daylong struggle to obtain life\u2019s necessities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bakeries have been forced to close. Late last month, the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees said its flour supplies had run out, and the World Food Program said it had delivered the last of its supplies to food kitchens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The only food available to many Gazans \u2014 particularly those among the 90 percent of the population that is displaced and mostly living in tents \u2014 comes from local charity kitchens, some of which have been looted as the hunger crisis deepens.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ahmed Mohsen, 30, a construction worker, spends around two hours a day standing in line to fill his pot. On the day he spoke to The New York Times, all he received was plain rice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prices of the food still available in markets cited by locals are astronomical for an impoverished population largely unable to work amid the war: Canned vegetables are now around $8, 10 times as much as before the siege; and a sack flour that cost around $5 before is now around $300.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cImagine you haven\u2019t tasted meat, a boiled egg or even an apple in months,\u201d Mr. Mohsen said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ahmed al-Nems, 32, a grocer displaced to Gaza City, lives on the occasional can of food and a stockpile of flour, lentils and kidney beans that his family hopes to stretch for several more weeks by eating a single meal per day. His mother cooks on a fire fed with torn-up shoes because there is no fuel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe eat once a day, at noon, and that\u2019s it,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I can\u2019t breathe when I see my brothers and sisters are still hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A U.N.-backed monitoring system for malnutrition, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, recently began a new review to determine whether conditions in Gaza amount to famine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Already, the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ochaopt.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Gaza_Reported_Impact_Snapshot_30_April_2025_0.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">United Nations said<\/a>, 91 percent of the population analyzed \u2014 just under the roughly two million believed to be in Gaza \u2014 is estimated to be facing \u201cfood insecurity,\u201d with most enduring \u201cemergency\u201d or \u201ccatastrophic\u201d levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli authority overseeing aid access to Gaza has repeatedly <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/govextra.gov.il\/media\/fbfddg2q\/cogat-assessment-food-and-food-security-in-the-gaza-strip-response-to-ipc-report-1.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">argued that<\/a> this U.N.-backed reporting contains \u201cfactual and methodological flaws, some of them serious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In recent days, local journalists and Palestinian health authorities have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DJDVVfUoJ9l\/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">uploaded<\/a> several <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Lxviy5uGi2k\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">videos<\/a> of sickly, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=1005756841537280&amp;rdid=wFRmvtd57PvLzYjP\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">skeletal<\/a> children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Malnutrition has had knockdown effects on the entire medical system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Burn victims from Israeli bombardment are unable to obtain enough food for skin grafts to heal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Al-Shifa Hospital, the head of nephrology, Dr. Ghazi al-Yazji, helplessly watches patients wither.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDialysis patients need a balanced diet, but everyone is surviving mainly on canned foods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Medication shortages mean he has cut his patients\u2019 weekly dialysis sessions to two times a week from three, and shortened them. The rationing will gradually cause toxins to build up in their bodies, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he has no choice: \u201cOtherwise patients would go without dialysis altogether, which would be fatal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Medications to treat blood pressure and diabetes are gradually decreasing, he added, while cardiac catheters are nearly depleted, and anyone needing them is likely to die.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gaza\u2019s health ministry says its warehouses are now out of 37 percent of \u201cessential medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli authorities say the United Nations, aid groups and private businesses brought in huge stocks of supplies during the cease-fire that should ensure that the population can still meet its needs. It accuses Hamas of hoarding supplies and depriving its own population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But aid groups contacted by The Times insist that some supplies \u2014 particularly produce, some medicines, cooking gas and the type of fuel used by ambulances \u2014 have simply run out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And while some warehouses remain stocked in Gaza, they often simply cannot reach them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since Israel\u2019s new bombardment after the cease-fire collapsed, it has declared more and more evacuation and no-go zones, forcing some 420,000 Gazans to flee yet again and blocking access to around 70 percent of the enclave, according to U.N. estimates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Gaining access to warehouses in these areas requires coordination with the Israeli Army, which several aid workers said was a long, bureaucratic process, with permission often denied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli authorities responsible for responsible for aid access in Gaza did not comment on specific questions about the aid situation in Gaza and referred the questions to the prime minister\u2019s office. The prime minister\u2019s office did not comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The blockade has even affected production of clean water, said Paula Navarro, the water and sanitation coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Generators at Gaza\u2019s main desalination plant are producing potable water at only 10 percent of its usual capacity, she said, after Israel also cut off electricity in the blockade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now even that production is at risk, with fuel stores inaccessible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe estimation is that 90 percent of the fuel that is in storage in Gaza today is inaccessible due to evacuation orders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Most Gazans cannot retrieve clean water anyway, she said, because of extensive damage to water pipelines and long waits at water trucks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many instead turn to boreholes with unsanitary water or use Israeli water pipes that reach Gaza but have been damaged in the war. Using unclean water has prompted a spike in jaundice, diarrhea and scabies cases, Ms. Navarro said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cDrinkable water has become increasingly rare, so people have adapted,\u201d said Ahmed al-Ijla, a father of three who, like most others in Gaza City, now drinks salty water. \u201cThe effect of the blockade is visible now on people\u2019s faces \u2014 everyone is pale. Their nerves are shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. al-Yazji, at Al-Shifa Hospital, says he still tries to advise his patients on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But every day, it seems more pointless.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWithout urgent intervention and resumption of aid, we will lose more patients,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are facing a catastrophic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Iyad Abuheweila<!-- --> contributed reporting from Istanbul, and <!-- -->Farnaz Fassihi<!-- --> from New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/04\/world\/europe\/israel-gaza-blockade-humanitarian-crisis.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been more than 60 days since Israel ordered a halt to all humanitarian aid entering Gaza \u2014 no food, fuel or even medicine. As the phone calls pour in, Muneer Alboursh, the director general of Gaza\u2019s health ministry, is running out of answers. The longer Israel\u2019s total siege of the enclave grinds on, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/30\/multimedia\/30int-gaza-humanitarian-ktwg-promo\/30int-gaza-humanitarian-ktwg-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[126476,4278,4795,22539,9995,1720,139068,43,32652,42709,38,5558,2623,163507,34810,3014,7204],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297280,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297278\/revisions\/297280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}