Palestinians continue to face relentless bombing by Israeli forces, described as a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ by UN chief António Guterres, as the war on Gaza passes the two-month mark. Rafah in southern Gaza was struck by the Israeli military twice during the night on Wednesday, 6 December, according to local residents, and UN representatives issued a warning that there are no longer any safe havens in the besieged area. Israeli forces have also entered the heart of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, as a result of Israel’s expanding air and ground offensive in the southern portion of the territory, which has resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands more Palestinians and exacerbated the already dire humanitarian conditions. Alarming levels of hunger In a report on food insecurity in the Gaza Strip published on 7 December, the United Nations World Food Programme noted that households in northern Gaza are “experiencing alarming levels of hunger.” Nine out of ten people in northern Gaza go without food for a full day or night, and at least 97 percent of households have “inadequate food consumption.” Thirty-three percent of households in the southern…
