GAZA CITY – In the wake of relentless air sorties and continued Israeli attacks, the Gaza Civil Defence has cited a lack of equipment, which is causing deaths to thousands of civilians under the rubble in Gaza. Moreover, it said, members of the emergency organisations are being targeted regularly by the Israeli army.
“We are using simple tools like shovels and hammers, along with our bare hands, to try to rescue people from under the rubble. We do not have any heavy machinery or equipment,” an Al Jazeera report quoted the director of supplies and equipment at Gaza’s Civil Defence, Mohammed al-Mughair, as saying.
“We have documented 9,700 survivors who took their last breath under the debris because we could not help them,” he said.
“Israeli forces have adopted these policies to multiply the number of victims, so that those injured will lose their lives,” he said.
He also informed Gaza Civil Defence members suffer greatly as they are regularly targeted by the Israeli army.
“We have fulfilled more than 170,000 emergency calls, many of which led to the transfer of injured or killed Palestinians. Our forces are facing not only physical fatigue, but also psychological burdens as more than 25 percent of our crew members were killed,” al-Mughair told Al Jazeera from Gaza City in the north of the enclave.
He said many of the Israeli targets are residential areas that were not in the forced displacement red zones set by the Israeli army.
The Israeli military is preventing the entry of much-needed heavy machinery to remove rubble and save lives, it is reported.
Meanwhile, a four-year-old Mohammed Yassine has died from a lack of food as the World Food Programme warns that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face acute levels of malnutrition, reports Al Jazeera.
Gaza officials say killing innocent children has “become a pastime” for Israeli soldiers.
