Deadly attacks, decomposing bodies, lack of services: What we know about day 39

Deadly weapons used against Gaza

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed that Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip since October 7, equivalent to two nuclear bombs.

In comparison, the United States dropped the Little Boy nuclear bomb on Hiroshima during World War II, yielding 15,000 tonnes of high explosives and wrecking everything within a 1.6km (1-mile) radius.

Plan to bury decomposing bodies in Al Shifa compound

Reuters reported that a doctor Ahmed Al Mokhallalati and Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra have claimed in separate telephone interviews that more than 100 dead bodies are presently unburied and have begun to decompose, “creating an acute sanitary crisis”.

“We are planning to bury them today in a mass grave inside the Al Shifa medical complex. It is going to be very dangerous as we don’t have any cover or protection from the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), but we have no other options, the corpses of the martyrs began to decompose,” said Qidra. “The men are digging right now as we speak.”

Qidra claims the number of bodies accumulated at Al Shifa at about 100 whereas Mokhallalati said it was about 120.

More than half of Gaza hospitals non operational

According to the World Health Organization, 22 of 36 hospitals in Gaza are out of service “due to lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity”.

While calling for an immediate ceasefire, the UN’s health agency also warned that the remaining 14 hospitals “have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and life saving surgeries and provide inpatient care, including intensive care”.

🚨2⃣2⃣ of 3⃣6⃣ – MORE THAN HALF the hospitals in Gaza are non-functional due to lack of fuel, damage, attacks and insecurity.

The 14 hospitals remaining open have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and lifesaving surgeries and provide inpatient care, including intensive… pic.twitter.com/vHqSVXevT8

— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) November 14, 2023

Water supplies on hold due to lack of fuel

The United Nations reported that infrastructure for the operation of water and waste management in southern Gaza is no longer functioning.

“Due to lack of fuel, public sewage pumping stations, 60 water wells in the south, the two main desalination plants in Rafah and the Middle Area, the two main sewage pumps in the south, and the Rafah wastewater treatment plant have all ceased operations,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated, citing the organisation’s Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

“Coupled with the shutdown of municipal sanitation work, this is posing a serious threat to public health, increasing the risk of water contamination and the outbreak of diseases.”

At least 42 journalists killed since October 7

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has revealed that at least 42 journalists and media workers have been killed since October 7 as Israel intensified its attacks, stating that the period was the most deadly for journalists since the CPJ’s data collection began in 1992.

#Update: Today, Ahmed Fatima, a photographer for the #Egypt-based Al Qahera News TV, was killed in a strike in #Gaza.

Up until now, 42 journalists have been killed in the #Israel–#Gaza war.

37 #Palestinian, 4 #Israeli, and 1 #Lebanese.https://t.co/lNtZEQfEOX

— CPJ MENA (@CPJMENA) November 13, 2023

Credits: Al Jazeera