A senior official from the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says the Israeli regime continues to use humanitarian aid in Gaza as a weapon of war against Palestinians.
Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, underscored in a statement on Sunday that aid sent to the Gaza Strip should not be tied to any political conditions.
She noted that there has been a notable decline in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the ceasefire was enacted, but she also pointed out that a major assault took place on 19 October, with near-daily shelling persisting.
The humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Willemen said, have not seen significant improvement. Shortages of water and shelter continue to exist, and as winter draws near, hundreds of thousands of individuals remain living in tents, she added.
She highlighted that MSF teams are still registering severe malnutrition in children younger than five years and in pregnant women. Despite a slight increase in food availability, the nutritional status remains worrisome.
“Residents of Gaza have lived under the threat of mass extermination for two years,” Willemen said.
The senior MSF official added, “We urgently need aid to ensure people can sleep on a mattress with a blanket inside their tents. Rebuilding Gaza will take a long time, but we have not yet reached even the minimum basic humanitarian standards in the strip.”
One Palestinian killed in Israeli drone strike
Meanwhile, medical sources at al-Awda Hospital said one Palestinian was killed and four others injured in an Israeli drone attack last night at Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army asserted in a statement that it carried out the attack against a member of the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement was aimed at bringing an end to Israel’s assault, a partial withdrawal of its troops to a so-called yellow line along Gaza’s borders, and a modest increase in humanitarian aid.
Last Monday, as part of the deal Hamas released all living captives, as well as the remains of 12 of the 28 dead Israeli captives.
In return, Israel freed 2,000 Palestinian detainees and returned 15 Palestinian bodies for every one dead Israeli captive returned.
Since the onset of the Israeli genocidal war in October 2023, the occupying regime has killed at least 68,519 Palestinians — mostly women and children — and reduced Gaza to ruins, drawing global outrage and calls for accountability.
Experts warn that the true death toll could reach hundreds of thousands once the missing and those buried beneath the ruins are fully counted.
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