GAZA STRIP: The Gaza Strip is home to millions of people who are suffering from severe hunger as a result of Israel’s terrible attack. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has called for a ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access to the area, according to Reuters.
Nearly seven months after Israel started a deadly offensive in response to the October 7 Hamas-led attacks that claimed 1,200 lives in Israel, the besieged enclave of Gaza is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe.
In an interview with Reuters in Manila, the capital of the country, IFRC President Kate Forbes stated, “We desperately need a political solution that will allow us to have a ceasefire to get aid in.”
“We’re ready to make a difference. We have to have access, and to have access there has to be a ceasefire,” stated Forbes, who in December became the second female CEO of the largest humanitarian network in the world.
The president of the IFRC is a volunteer who is in charge of a network that brings together 191 organizations that aid in times of need and have been involved in conflicts. One such organization is the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which operates ambulance services in Gaza.
Forbes said that she visited Rafah in February, months before Israel’s military invasion of the southern Gaza city, which was providing shelter to over a million Palestinians fleeing attacks on other areas of the enclave, and to have witnessed the “atrocious” conditions there.
According to Forbes, “There was not enough housing. There was no water, there weren’t enough sanitation toilets. We had a hospital with no equipment… and unfortunately what I was afraid of has happened, and there wasn’t going to be enough food.”
While Israel continued its offensive in Gaza to destroy the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas after the highest UN court ordered Israel to stop attacking Rafah on Friday, chances for a restart of the mediated ceasefire talks in Gaza improved over the weekend.
Reports earlier this week that negotiations might resume were refuted by Hamas. Each side has placed the blame for the deadlock on the other. While the Palestinians want the release of Palestinian prisoners, Israel has stated that it cannot accept Hamas’ demand for an end to the war.
“I plead with the governments on all sides to negotiate a ceasefire so that we can get aid in,” Forbes stated.
Furthermore, she said “My job is to ensure that when it (ceasefire) happens, we can give the necessary aid. And so they need to do their jobs so I can do my job.” AFP
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