500,000 Palestinians face hunger, thirst in Gaza: Municipality

By Anadolu Staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Half a million Palestinians are at risk of hunger and thirst in cities where Israeli attacks continue, the Gaza Municipality said on Saturday, describing the humanitarian situation as "disastrous" as the Israeli army deliberately targeted food and water infrastructure.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is disastrous,” Municipality spokesman Hosni Muhanna told Anadolu.

“Fuel shortages disrupted the process of evacuating the injured and transporting bodies,” the spokesman said.

“Some construction equipment and vehicles became unusable as a result of Israel's targeting of the Gaza Municipality's garage,” Muhanna said, noting that “they had difficulties in opening the streets that were closed due to Israeli bombardment.”

"We cannot provide water to the Al-Shifa Hospital," the Palestinian official said.

“The water and food crisis in shelter centers is increasing exponentially as the number of people coming to these centers exceeds the capacity,” he added.

The infrastructure is “deliberately targeted,” Muhanna said, adding that "it is not possible to clean the waste overflowing from the sewers due to a lack of fuel."

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a week-long humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.

At least 17,487 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46,480 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi