Almost 2 weeks after Hamas attacks, Gaza humanitarian aid runs low

CTV National News for Thursday, October 19, 2023 Desperation in Gaza as crucial aid is expected to enter; Canadians in Gaza hope a reopened border means they can return home.

Almost two weeks after Hamas’s deadly attacks on Israel, Gaza is running out of essential resources, with food, medical aid and clean water widely inaccessible to more than a million Palestinian civilians.

“If we continue living in these circumstances, Gaza will turn into a mass grave,” a Palestinian merchant told CTV National News correspondent Heather Wright in Gaza this week.

Humanitarian aid is supposed to enter Gaza through the Gaza War Rafah Crossing, a border that separates Egypt from the Palestinian region, on Friday, according to Regional Emergency Director of the World Health Organization Richard Brennan. But security complications may stand in the way, he warned.

“We need those security guarantees so the supplies can be delivered where they’re needed most,” Brennan told CTV News.

The United Nations currently estimates that there are now one million internally displaced people throughout Gaza, “including about 353,000 people staying in UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East schools in central and southern Gaza.

“They are living in increasingly dire conditions,” the UN reports. “Gaza is under a full electricity blackout. Hospitals are on the brink of collapse.”

As the death toll from the Hamas attacks and retaliation rises, Palestinians say they fear for their security, with many hoping to escape the war-ravaged region.

Palestinian-Canadian Salem Abuwarda, who lives in Canada, told CTV National News Thursday his 11-year-old daughter, his 15-year-old son, and his wife, all Canadian citizens, have been trying to exit Gaza for nearly two weeks.

His brother Mouhammed said his wife and three children are also stuck in Gaza.

"My son, he is a strong son, but yesterday morning when he called me, crying, he said, 'Dad, please help me. Dad, do something. Dad, call the government, do something. Dad, call my school, maybe my school can help me,'" Mouhammed said.

More than two weeks after the initial attacks carried out by gunmen who are part of Hamas, which the Canadian government has considered a terrorist organization for two decades, Israel is still identifying bodies of victims.

Gilad Bentov, an Israeli-Canadian living in central Israel, says many families remain in the dark about the deaths of loved ones.

He mentioned reports from Israel that approximate more than 100 Israeli hostages, including elders and children, to be held captive by Hamas.

He told CTVNews.ca that, on the day of the attacks, he remembers waking up to the booms of rockets and feeling that these sounded “different.” In the days after the carnage, he said, he has been busy delivering emergency supplies to military bases throughout Israel.

“I haven’t even had the time to sit down and take in what’s happening,” he said.

Bentov is one of several people who've shared their stories about what happened on Oct. 7. Another is Irene Shivat, the fiancée of Canadian-Israeli Netta Epstein, who jumped on a grenade to save her life.

The couple was hiding in the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza, in southern Israel, on Oct. 7, when the gunmen broke in and began shooting, Shivat told CTV National News.

“They threw the third grenade. It was rolling to me and Netta jumped on it. He jumped and during the jump they shot him,” Shavit said in an interview days after Epstein's death.

Shavit said she took cover behind his body.

“I saw him dying, bleeding to death and just lying there,” she recalls. “He saved me. Until the last minute, he protected me. Because of him, they did not see me.”

Epstein was the fifth Canadian to be confirmed killed in the attacks.

“I love him still,” Shavit said. “I can’t speak about him in the past. He is still with me.”

CIVILIANS 'DESERVE PEACE': BIDEN

On Thursday evening, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered an Oval Office address that articulated his support for Israel, while expressing sorrow for innocent Palestinians who are suffering.

“I spoke with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and reiterated that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination,” Biden said. “The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away. Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity, and peace."

His speech came two days after an explosion at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza killed many Palestinian civilians. Specific details are still being confirmed, with the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claiming the death toll at the hospital is more than 500 and U.S. and Israeli intelligence saying it is less than 300.

The Gaza Health Ministry initially blamed Israeli airstrikes for the blast, a claim that was soon denied by Israel. American intelligence says the analysis of data it's seen suggests Israel was "not responsible."

Israel's defence ministry says its radar data suggests the blast was a result of a misfire by the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. That group has denied its involvement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet commented on this specific issue, saying he needs more time to evaluate the details of the blast.

"We are working closely with allies to determine exactly what happened," Trudeau said Thursday.