{"id":37815,"date":"2021-05-18T17:18:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T22:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=37815"},"modified":"2021-05-19T16:37:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:37:39","slug":"english-gaza-in-the-dark-after-israel-bombs-power-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=37815","title":{"rendered":"(English) Gaza in the dark after Israel bombs power lines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disculpa, pero esta entrada est\u00e1 disponible s\u00f3lo en English<\/a>. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.<\/p>

Maureen Clare Murphy<\/p>\n

\"Landscape<\/picture>
Israeli warplanes hit the Gaza Strip early 17 May.\u00a0Ashraf Amra<\/span>APA images<\/span><\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Human rights groups are calling for an urgent investigation by the International Criminal Court as Israel\u2019s merciless pounding of Gaza enters its second week.<\/p>\n

More than 200 Palestinians in the Strip have been killed since last Monday, including 60 children and 34 women,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0Al Mezan, a human rights group based in the territory.<\/p>\n

Three of the women were pregnant when they were killed,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0the UN\u2019s human rights office.<\/p>\n

The fatality count is expected to rise as people remain under the rubble and unaccounted for two days after heavy airstrikes on residential areas of Gaza City overnight Saturday.<\/p>\n

Nearly 1,000 others have been injured and some\u00a058,000 people<\/a>\u00a0have been displaced within Gaza after Israel destroyed around 100 residential buildings over the past week.<\/p>\n

The buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes include six towers, \u201cthree of which were completely destroyed,\u201d Al Mezan said.<\/p>\n

Displaced persons are seeking shelter at dozens of schools run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees.<\/p>\n

As Al Mezan\u00a0notes<\/a>, Israel targeted UNRWA schools used as shelters in previous military offensives in Gaza,\u00a0killing civilians displaced from their homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Al Mezan said that UNRWA had not officially opened their schools as shelters and that displaced persons are living \u201cin classrooms without mattresses or blankets and without the provision of essential services, such as sufficient drinking water, food and adequate toilets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rights group added that \u201cmost live on what little food they have brought with them, or on food given by neighboring residents or provided by charitable associations and popular committees for refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concern is mounting over rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in densely populated Gaza, where only one percent of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19 and infection rates are high.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince it is difficult for forcibly displaced people to uphold preventive safety measures,\u201d Al Mezan stated, \u201cthose in shelters are threatened by a health and humanitarian disaster, which in turn threatens society in general with further coronavirus outbreaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several human rights groups have demanded that Israeli government and military bodies \u201creverse the decision to close Gaza\u2019s crossings [and] allow movement of people and passage of aid,\u201d Gisha, a legal center based in Israel,\u00a0stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>
Palestinians put out a fire at a mattress factory following an Israeli airstrike east of Jabaliya in northern Gaza on 17 May.\u00a0Ashraf Amra<\/span>APA images<\/span><\/small><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The humanitarian and economic situation in Gaza was already dire with a severe land, sea and air blockade imposed by Israel beginning in 2007 and multiple massive military offensives since then.<\/p>\n

As a direct result of Israel\u2019s siege and attacks, Gaza has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and\u00a0more than half<\/a>\u00a0of its population of two million, two-thirds of whom are\u00a0refugees<\/a>, live in poverty.<\/p>\n

Some Palestinians who lost their homes in Israel\u2019s 2014 attack had yet to rebuild when the new one began. Israeli restrictions on building materials have made rebuilding\u00a0a very difficult ordeal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the 2014 offensive, Palestinians said that\u00a0a ceasefire wasn\u2019t enough<\/a>\u00a0and demanded that the blockade on Gaza be lifted and for an end to Israel\u2019s impunity.<\/p>\n

While the devastating siege remains in place, the International Criminal Court\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year that it had opened an investigation into war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Israel\u2019s 2014 attacks a\u00a0primary focus<\/a>\u00a0of the probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrimes against humanity\u201d<\/h2>\n

Palestinians in Gaza say that the current trauma that Israel is inflicting is even worse than those that came before.<\/p>\n

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