Humanitarian organisations fear for lives of people in Gaza as spotlight shifts to Iran

A number of humanitarian organisations have told the British parliament they fear colleagues in Gaza will “die in the dark” as focus shifts from Gaza to Iran, The Guardian reported on Monday.

Organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) spoke about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In the opening session, MP Emily Thornberry said Gaza had "gone off the news and it’s not like things aren’t happening. It’s important that we put information before the public”.

Rohan Talbot, director of advocacy and campaigns at MAP, said, “This has been the darkest and most terrifying period of the attacks so far”. 

Talbot said his colleagues "worry they will die in the dark” after Israel cut the internet in the territory last week.

The field coordinator for MSF, Anna Halford, said they have struggled to understand the situation on the ground because of the communication blackout in north and central Gaza. 

Halford said there had been almost 500 community hubs where people could obtain food in Gaza for the first 19 months of the war, but now there are only four.

In addition, the organisation only had four aid trucks enter the territory since 27 May, Halford said. 

“There is nothing humanitarian about this system,” she said. “We are weeks away from having to make choices about quality of care, because there won’t be any care to provide.”