Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared the military will enter Gaza “with full force”, saying there will be “no situation where we stop the war”.
The escalation comes as Israel’s blockade on aid enters its third month, and nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since October’s attack by Hamas.
Israeli officials have indicated a “voluntary transfer programme” will be part of their broader military goals.
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On Monday’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Dr Ayman Elattar, an Australian emergency doctor, and MSF’s Claire Minera, just back from the region, to unpack what this means for the 2.1 million people still trapped in Gaza.
“Coming from Gaza, I can tell you the situation there is very desperate in many, many aspects. Millions of people living there with no safe shelter, no access to food, no trucks… food trucks allowed in for two months now,” Dr Elattar said.
He describes the area Palestinians are being pushed into as “a concentration camp that is actually getting smaller and smaller”.
“You can’t squeeze them in a small suburb called Rafa and say ‘this is for your protection’,” he said.
Dr Elattar also highlighted the growing health crisis in Gaza, with outbreaks of diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases.
“It’s not safe to do so…security is not achieved by oppressing the whole population. You can’t be achieving this with collective punishment.”
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