July 24, 2024, RT.com
-by Eva Karene Bartlett
*(blog title updated from original published; blog version slightly longer)
Earlier this month, the Lancet published an article estimating that the total number of Palestinian civilian deaths caused directly and indirectly by Israeli attacks since October 2023 could be nearly five times higher than the official death toll, and could reach “up to 186 000 or even more.”
It noted that “this would translate to 7.9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip.”
According to the piece, the latest available count of Palestinians killed – 37,396 – is far too low, based on the fact that it is still unknown how many more lie under the rubble, how many are missing but not accounted for among the dead, and how many will perish due to starvation, dehydration, or diseases.
“Even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as reproductive, communicable, and non-communicable diseases,” it noted.
However, even this Lancet estimate of nearly 200,000 dead might be only half the actual number of Palestinians killed, according to some counts.
Norwegian Dr. Mads Gilbert, who has worked extensively from Gaza over the years – notably during times when Israel was waging wars on the Palestinian enclave – recently outlined the manifold preventable conditions which contribute to such “indirect” deaths, estimating the number dead or soon to die could be over 500,000.
As causes of indirect deaths, he details “the lack of food entering Gaza and the destruction the agriculture, the fisheries, the poultry, the dairy farms, and so on. The lack of water, which leads to dehydration and infections.”
The third component of the “triangle of death” is common diseases, Gilbert notes. “There are maybe as many as 10,000 or more cancer patients in Gaza. The Israeli army bombed the Rantisi hospital for children with cancer and they bombed the Turkish friendship hospital for adult cancer patients. They do not allow cancer drugs to come in.”
More than 1.2 million people, he says, are getting infected because of the bad hygiene conditions.
Gilbert points out that in the high temperatures in Gaza now, the uncollected garbage, destroyed sewage pumps and resulting flooding of streets with raw sewage, “it makes a hell of parasites that can spread diseases.”
Then, there are the pregnant women giving birth in unsanitary conditions, their bodies weakened from starvation. He estimates that more than 50,000 children have been born in Gaza since October 7, 2023, adding that “all these women need clean water and good food in order to take care of their children. There is massive over mortality among pregnant women who have difficult deliveries, who need cesarean sections.”
The nearly 40,000 dead is already an appalling number, but these recent estimates are absolutely horrifying.
Israel’s long-planned starvation and diseases
Having lived three years in Gaza (over the period of late 2008 to early 2013), I saw (and lived) the brutality of the Israeli siege (full lock-down) of Gaza, the severe power outages (16-22 hours a day when I lived there) after Israel destroyed the only power plant and how those power outages impacted hospitals (dialysis and emergency room function; incubators; refrigeration for medicine, etc.).
The power outages impacted the ability to treat sewage, or at the least pump it into the sea. When sewage over-accumulates, it overflows into the streets (including at least one horrific case where five civilians drowned in a northern Gaza village when sewage overflowed).
The Israel siege itself severely restricts what is allowed into Gaza, including medicine, cooking gas, fuel, food products, livestock, seeds, fertilizers, and much more. Likewise, it severely limits exports, contributing to the killing of economy.
As I wrote a few years ago, the power outages, fuel and cooking gas shortages, dramatic food insecurity, stunted growth in children, 50% unemployment, and 96% undrinkable water have been Gaza’s reality for years.
In fact, already back in 2008, I wrote (from Gaza) about the dearth of food aid allowed into the enclave:
“UN figures reveal an average of less than five truckloads a day have been allowed in, compared to 123 in October and 475 in May last year. On 27 November, the UN announced that it had run out of food supplies and essentials in Gaza.”
Back then, there was already a drastic shortage of “300 different kinds of medicines, 95 of which (including cancer medicines) are no longer available in Gaza.” 220 machines used for dialysis and other vital procedures, like CT scans, were not serviceable.
Filed under: "Israel", Palestine, Palestinian people | Tagged: Anglozionist Genocidal War on Gaza, Displaced Palestinians, Hamas Resistance movement |
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 