Palestinians in Gaza enter the new year as helpless and besieged as they were last year.
Israel’s war against the enclave continued in 2024, killing 23,842 people and injuries 51,925 this year alone, raising the chilling official death toll to 46,376, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israel has used siege and starvation tactics as well as scorched earth bombings, drawing accusations of committing genocide from human rights groups and United Nations legal bodies.
All documented Israeli systematic attacks on hospitals, shelters for displaced persons, humanitarian workers, journalists and so-called safe zones, which are often anything but.
In northern Gaza, the Israeli military imposed a full and suffocating siege in an attempt to starve out fighters and drive out civilians, in what is called “ethnic cleansing”.
These tactics violate international law and create conditions for killing people “in whole or in part,” which fits the definition of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention, rights groups say.
“This past year was very dark for us. How else to describe it? It was more than excruciating,” said Eman Shaghnoubi, 52, from Deir el-Balah, Gaza.
“We have gone from one humiliation to another,” she added, noting the constant displacement of Palestinians in the enclave.
Inside Gaza
Israel provided 34 hospitals in Gaza “non-functional” and forced 80 health centers to close completely, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
In the last few daysIsraeli forces stormed the only remaining major hospital in Gaza’s devastated north, evicting staff and patients before setting fire to the medical facility.
Torrent it’s raining right now tent settlements that stand on the site of many towns and cities in Gaza, with death from hypothermia increases as low temperatures continue to drop.
Shaghnoubi, who has six boys and two girls, said her children are struggling to survive in the cold and that her small tent does not protect the family from the pouring rain.
“My children sleep on soaked sheets at night,” she told Al Jazeera.
Shereen Abu Nida (40) also said that she and her four children are dealing with hardships due to the terrible living conditions brought about by the war. To make matters worse, her husband was abducted by Israeli forces about a year ago, leaving her to fend for her children alone.
“I had to spend this whole year alone, completely alone,” she said in a trembling voice.
Musa Ali Muhammad al-Maghribi, 52, added that his family has little hope for the future.
He said his nine children are sick and he can’t find medicine, nor does he have enough food or clean water for his family, a plight faced by most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
“[Israel] he destroyed us,” he told Al Jazeera. “Every day we just hope to die.”
Netanyahu prolongs the fight
Despite the extreme hardship, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows no signs of stopping the attacks.
Efforts to broker some form of ceasefire, which have been ongoing for much of the conflict, have faltered in the face of what many, including United States President Joe Biden in Junethey were harshly assessed as political personal interest of the Israeli prime minister.
Accusations of exploiting the Gaza war for personal gain center on Netanyahu’s attempts to withdraw from his ongoing trial on charges of bribery, fraud and abuse of public trustwhich he denies.
In addition, the prime minister’s corruption trial suggests that Netanyahu is seeking to prolong the war to deflect attention from accusations of negligence or incompetence during the attack on Hamas October 7, 2023, when 1,139 Israelis were killed.
Accusations of opportunism also came from Netanyahu’s right-wing government, as well as the streetwhere tens of thousands of people continue to gather in support of a deal that would free prisoners taken during the Hamas-led offensive.
International powerlessness
The international community has failed to stop – or mitigate – the carnage in Gaza largely because of the unconditional political and military support of the US for Israel’s war on Gaza.
Except on more than 20 billion dollars in aid to Israel since the start of the war, the US has torpedoed diplomatic efforts within the UN to end the war, including suppressing recent reports of possible famine underway in northern Gaza.
IN January, International Court of Justice ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent any act that could be considered genocide. Despite this, human rights organizations based in Palestinians and internationallyincluding Amnesty, have concluded that Israel has actively embarked on a campaign of genocide within the Strip.
Similar international action has also been taken against both Hamas and the Israeli leadership. In November, International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.
Israel claims to have killed Deif in July. Netanyahu and Gallant are still wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In October, Israel defied international pressure and voted to ban the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is widely recognized as one of Gaza’s main lifelines. When the ban takes effect at the end of January next year, Gaza will lose its main aid agency and with it a large part of the network that distributes food, medicine and the infrastructure needed to sustain life.
In December, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the continuation of UNRWA’s work and for the third time, to achieve an immediate ceasefire. Despite this, Israeli attacks on Gaza have continued and the agency’s future remains uncertain.
Palestinians in Gaza, like Abu Nida, only hope the war will end soon this year.
“This has been the worst year of my life,” said Abu Nida.
“No one in the world has lived through the days we live through,” she said.
