«Apocalyptic». This is how the UN, in the words of Martin Griffiths, Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, describes the situation in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
«Every time we think that things can't get more apocalyptic in Gaza, they do – he writes in X -. People are ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another. No safe place is safe in Gaza. Neither hospitals, nor shelters, nor refugee camps - continues the senior United Nations official -. Nobody is safe. Not children, not health workers, not humanitarian workers." «Such blatant disregard for basic humanity must stop – concludes Griffiths -. The fighting must stop."
Last night senior Israeli military officials made some statements speaking on condition of anonymity. They referred to a dramatic toll: approximately two civilians were killed for every Hamas fighter killed in the Gaza Strip: "I'm not saying it's not bad that we have a two to one ratio," one of the officials said at the conference. press adding that the use of human shields is part of the "basic strategy" of the Palestinian Islamist movement. “It is to be hoped that this ratio will be much lower in the next phase of the war,” he added.
Asked about reports that 5,000 Hamas fighters had been killed, one of the senior officials said: "The figures are more or less accurate." The Israeli army is deploying high-tech mapping software to try to reduce the number of non-combatant deaths, officials stressed. The system integrates mobile phone signals, aerial surveillance and artificial intelligence to maintain a constantly updated map showing population concentrations across the country. “In the south, because we have almost doubled the population, operations are much more precise,” one of the officials said. “We are taking much more time to ensure that our efforts to alert civilians are effective.”
(Unioneonline/ss)
