杏MAP导航

By Francesca Merlo

After 21 months of Israeli offensive in Gaza, humanitarian agencies are warning of an imminent operational collapse. What little aid is being delivered to those remaining in the strip risks stopping entirely. Meanwhile, the civilian death toll is on the rise. On Sunday, at least 95 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes, including children collecting water and market-goers in Gaza City.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has confirmed the death of yet another malnourished infant, as eight UN agencies signalled that without fuel, their lifesaving work may soon come to a halt. Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry now reports over 58,000 deaths and 138,000 wounded since the war began on the 7th of October 2023.

The high and rising death toll comes as no surprise, given that the Israeli military has intensified its bombardment. As of the morning of Monday, the 14th of July, it claimed more than 100 new air raids in the last 24 hours alone. Ground operations also continue across northern Gaza. Aid is scarce, and attempts to collect it have proven deadly after two people were killed near an aid centre in Rafah on Sunday, the latest victims of many since the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stepped in after other agencies were banned or blocked from entering the Strip.

The international community faces growing pressure to act. UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini warned on the 11th of July that Gaza has become "the graveyard of children and starving people", calling the aid blockade a "cruel and鈥疢achiavellian scheme to kill".

Fears for the future of Rafah

International criticism is also growing over Israel鈥檚 controversial plan to build a 鈥渉umanitarian city鈥� in Rafah. The proposed encampment would house tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians on its ruins. According to Israeli media, construction could take more than a year and cost up to $15 billion.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has publicly condemned the plan, calling it a form of ethnic cleansing. 鈥淚t is a concentration camp,鈥� he told the Guardian, warning that such a facility - where entry is forced and exit restricted - would strip Palestinians of their freedom and dignity under the guise of humanitarian care. Opposition leader Yair Lapid has echoed this concern, saying Israel risks irreparable moral damage.

Human rights groups and UN officials warn that the city would effectively imprison Palestinians without process or choice, turning aid infrastructure into a tool of control. The plan, they say, cannot be reconciled with international law or human dignity.

These are rights the world once swore to protect - hard-won in the wake of colonial rule, apartheid, and two devastating world wars. They are enshrined in the founding of the United Nations, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in the shared hope that never again would entire populations be subjected to such systematic dehumanisation.

However, in Gaza today, those promises continue to be broken.