Displaced Palestinians staying in makeshift tents in a hospital in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza strip said on Saturday (December 9), that they struggle to find food and water to feed their families, as well as with cold nights inside the tents.
With the vast majority of Gazans now displaced and unable to access any aid, hospitals are overrun and food is running out, the main U.N. agency in Gaza said society was “on the verge of a full-blown collapse.”
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have already been forced from their homes, many fleeing several times. With fighting raging across the length of the territory, residents and U.N. agencies say there is now effectively nowhere safe to go, though Israel disputes this.
Israel launched its campaign to annihilate the Hamas group that rules Gaza after Hamas fighters went on a rampage through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and seizing more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
An official toll of all deaths in Gaza compiled by the Palestinian health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave exceeded 17,700 on Saturday, with many thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble. The ministry has previously said about 40% of deaths were of children under 18.
