The effects of the war on Gaza have worsened, with the ongoing aggression and shelling leaving thousands of casualties, causing infrastructure collapse, crippling the health sector, and worsening humanitarian conditions to unprecedented levels. Life in the Strip has become extremely difficult, with water and electricity outages, severe food and medicine shortages, ongoing starvation, and repeated targeting of civilians.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza
The Gaza Strip is witnessing a tragic humanitarian situation due to the continued aggression and siege, which has exacerbated the living and health crises, where more than two million people live in conditions that lack the basic necessities of life, from severe shortages of basic items such as food, drinking water, fuel, and medicines, leading to the spread of diseases, malnutrition, famine, and widespread destruction of infrastructure, as the majority of homes, hospitals and schools have been bombed, leading to large numbers of displaced people and lack of basic services.
With frequent power outages, hospitals have difficulty operating, making it more difficult to provide medical care for the sick and wounded. In addition to the disruption of Internet and telecommunications services, the Internet depends entirely on the existence of continuous electricity to operate towers and stations that transmit the signal, and when the power is cut off, these stations stop working, leading to severe interruption or weakness in Internet services.
The absence of electricity disrupts broadcasting equipment, disrupts imaging and editing equipment, limits their ability to transmit news and information instantaneously, and impedes journalists’ constant Internet access to the outside world, making it difficult for them to document events and transmit them to the outside world.
Read more about Internet outages and their effects in Gaza
Effects of the War on Gaza
The Gaza Strip has been going through many difficult challenges and circumstances since the beginning of the war and its resumption. The war has had catastrophic effects on the population, infrastructure and basic services. One of the most prominent effects of the war is the high number of casualties and martyrs. The number of martyrs in Gaza since the beginning of the war is 61,020, 18,592, including children, and 12400 women. More than 11,000 people have been missing, including hundreds of families, either under rubble and buildings.
In terms of health, hospitals and medical centers in Gaza suffer from severe shortages of medicines and medical equipment, as well as heavy pressure on medical staff who work long hours in difficult conditions and frequent power outages that make it more difficult to provide vital medical services, especially in intensive care units and operating rooms. The Israeli occupation army also targets medical personnel and civil defense personnel, with 1411 crew martyrs and 113 civil defense martyrs.
The psychological impact of the war is just as serious as the physical damage, with the population, especially children and women, suffering from severe psychological disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. The loss of loved ones, the constant fear of shelling, and their living in a destructive environment have also been exacerbated by the blockade of Gaza, which restricts the entry of humanitarian aid, especially food, resulting in widespread famine throughout the Strip.
Read more about Gaza food crisis
Journalists have also become a direct target in an attempt to silence the voice of truth and prevent the transfer of crimes and violations to the outside world, where journalists have been targeted while covering events, whether through direct shelling of their homes or offices, or through shooting while in the field, despite wearing press jackets and clear signs of their media identity.
