Netanyahu blocks Gaza field hospital for children amid crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Thursday to cancel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant's decision to establish a field hospital in Israel for children from the Gaza Strip. Gallant had announced the construction of the facility the day before, arguing that it was necessary because children suffering from various diseases could not be evacuated from Gaza.

As reported by Gallant's office, the field hospital in Israel was supposed to be a short-term solution that would meet urgent humanitarian needs until a permanent mechanism for evacuating and treating sick children is established. As noted earlier, the defence minister consulted the plan with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin.

Gallant's decision to build the hospital was in response to the situation where his earlier proposal, made two weeks prior, to facilitate the evacuation of the severely ill, particularly children, through Israeli territory was accepted by the prime minister. Still, the request got stuck in further levels of administration, as reported by the Times of Israel.

Blocking Gallant's request was politically motivated - an anonymous source in the Israeli government told the AFP agency.

The evacuation of the wounded and sick from the Gaza Strip to Egypt has been virtually blocked since the closure of the Rafah border crossing. The crossing was closed when Israeli forces took control of its Palestinian side in early May. Egypt refuses to open the crossing until Palestinian control is restored.

As a result of the armed conflict, the Gaza Strip is plunged into a humanitarian crisis on an enormous scale. International organisations warn that parts of the population face hunger and a shortage of drinking water. They also called on Israel to increase the flow of aid, which had previously been mainly reached through the Rafah crossing. Authorities in Jerusalem reject accusations of deliberately blocking aid and blame the problems with its distribution on organisations operating in Gaza and Hamas, which, in their view, intercept humanitarian transports.

International humanitarian organisation Oxfam released a report on Thursday accusing Israel of "using water as a weapon", which has "contributed significantly to the catastrophic deterioration of conditions of life in Gaza". "Since the Israeli offensive began following 7 October 2023, people in Gaza have had only 4.74 litres of water per person per day for all uses including drinking, cooking, and washing, which is a dramatic 94% reduction in the amount of water available before. This is significantly below the internationally accepted minimum standard of 15 litres of water per person per day for basic survival in emergencies," - Oxfam emphasised.

The conflict in the Gaza Strip began with a Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October 2023, in which almost 1,200 people were killed and 251 were kidnapped, some of whom are still imprisoned. On the Palestinian side, more than 38,800 Palestinians have died, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which in this tally does not distinguish between civilian casualties and fighters.