Leading aid groups have urged the international community to take action to stop Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza City after a UN investigation concluded Israel was committing genocide.
The coalition consisting of 20 organisations including Save the Children, Action Aid, Médecins Sans Frontières, Norwegian Refugee Council and others, warned “we are on the precipice of an even deadlier period” if action is not taken.
“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the UN Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the statement issued on Wednesday.
“As the Israeli government has ordered the mass displacement of Gaza City – home to nearly one million people – we are on the precipice of an even deadlier period in Gaza’s story if action is not taken. Gaza has been deliberately made uninhabitable,” the coalition’s statement continued.
“States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”
Palestinians have been told to evacuate Gaza City as Israel presses ahead with a ground invasion, which Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says is part of the state’s aim to eradicate Hamas. He has vowed to take full military control of the area.
The Israeli military said air force and artillery units had struck the city more than 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes toppled high-rise towers in areas with densely populated tent camps. Israel claims the towers were being used by Hamas to watch troops.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that more than 350,000 people had fled to the south of the Strip in an attempt to escape the impending bombardment. They confirmed they had opened a second route for people to leave.
Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people in Gaza, including women and children, hospital officials reported. More than half of those were in Gaza City, including a child and his mother who died in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from Shifa Hospital.
The Gaza Health Ministry said multiple Israeli strikes hit the Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City on Tuesday night.
It posted pictures on Facebook showing the damaged roof, water tanks and rubble in a hospital hallway.The ministry said the strikes forced half of some 80 patients to flee the facility. About 40 patients, including four children in intensive care and eight premature babies, remained in the hospital with 30 medical workers, the ministry said.
Over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel’s military onslaught since the Hamas massacre of around 1,200 people on 7 October, 2023, the aid groups’ statement said.
“Since the Israeli military tightened its siege six months ago, blocking food, fuel, and medicine, we witnessed children and families waste away from starvation as famine took hold,” it continued. “Our colleagues have been impacted.”
The groups referred to their own attempts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, saying: “Our organisations, together with Palestinian civil society groups, the UN, and Israeli human rights organisations, can only do so much.
“We have tirelessly tried to defend the people of Gaza and sustain humanitarian assistance, but we are being obstructed every step of the way.”
The letter referred to being “denied access” to those requiring support, adding that the “militarisation of the aid system has proved deadly” with thousands of people shot “while trying to reach the handful of sites where food is distributed under armed guard.”
“Governments must act to prevent the evisceration of life in the Gaza Strip, and to end the violence and occupation,” they wrote. “All parties must disavow violence against civilians, adhere to international humanitarian law and pursue peace.”
One million Palestinians are estimated to be living in Gaza City, and hundreds of thousands are said to have stayed behind for a number of reasons including the high financial costs of moving.
An Israeli military official said the army estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants remaining in the area who are using tunnels to move around the region.
In a statement, the military said it took steps to mitigate harm to civilians and that it would continue to operate against "terrorist organizations" in Gaza.
