Palestinians Who Fled to Khan Younis Struggle amid Shortages
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Palestinians in Khan Younis, Gaza, are resorting to cooking on firewood to provide sustenance for the displaced, as fuel and gas shortages grip the region.
A mass exodus from homes, driven by Israeli bombardments, has left thousands in dire need.
In Gaza, the quest for sustenance has become a daily struggle, with many bakeries closing their doors. Those few that remain open are met with long queues of desperate residents.
"I'm waiting to get bread for my family. I've been surprised more than once by how long the queue was. I've been to four different bakeries, and each one has a queue outside," lamented Iyad Abu Mutlaq, a Khan Younis resident, according to Al Jazeera.
"I don't know what to do in this situation. I had to sit and wait here until it's my turn," he added.
Ashraf Fahmi Abu Hamad, another Khan Younis resident, painted a bleak picture of the situation, saying, "As you can see, people are waiting, but there's no flour, water, or oil. The situation is difficult."
"We are waiting for an hour or two to get a bag of bread. Bakeries don't have flour anymore. We don't know if we will secure bread today, or even tomorrow," he added.
Amid this turmoil, the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians has underscored the gravity of the situation, with water now becoming a "matter of life and death" in Gaza following the cut in water supplies by Israel.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini emphasized the urgency, stating, "It has become a matter of life and death. It is a must: fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for two million people."
Tragically, humanitarian supplies have been barred from entering Gaza for a week, exacerbating the crisis.
Furthermore, approximately 20,000 people have fled Gaza City, seeking refuge in a UN school in Khan Younis. Their plight is dire, with Gazans forced from their homes, sleeping on the floor, deprived of water, electricity, and facing a critical shortage of food and clean bathrooms.
The most vulnerable among these displaced individuals are infants, children, and the elderly, all in urgent need of assistance. Some have reported being targeted by Israeli bombardments while evacuating, highlighting the absence of safety even for those fleeing.
Critics have accused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of facilitating ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Yara Hawari, a senior policy analyst at Al-Shabaka think tank, expressed concerns about the so-called "humanitarian corridors" being discussed by the US.
"Blinken will be trying to emphasize the creation of humanitarian corridors as a part of his meetings with politicians in the Middle East and elsewhere … They're (the US) describing it as a safe passage for Palestinians to get out of Gaza. But the fear is that this is not a humanitarian corridor at all, but rather the permanent march of exile," Hawari warned.
"The Israeli government does not respect any international convention on the right of return for refugees. So there is no expectation whatsoever that once the bombardment has stopped, Palestinians will be able to return to their homes," she said.
The toll from the Israeli attacks continues to mount, with Israeli air raids having killed at least 2,329 Palestinians in Gaza and leaving 9,714 others wounded, as reported by the territory's health ministry.
