Fistfights break out in bread lines as Gazas humanitarian crisis deepens

With the Israel-Hamas war in its second month and more than 10,000 people killed in Gaza, trapped civilians are struggling to survive without electricity or running water.

Jerusalem: With the Israel-Hamas war in its second month and more than 10,000 people killed in Gaza, trapped civilians are struggling to survive without electricity or running water.

Over half a million displaced people have crammed into hospitals and UN schools-turned-shelters in the south. The schools — overcrowded, strewn with trash, swarmed by flies — have become a breeding ground for infectious diseases.

Food and medicine shortages

Supermarket shelves are nearly empty. Bakeries have shut down because of lack of flour and fuel for the ovens. Gazas farmland is mostly inaccessible, and theres little in produce markets beyond onions and oranges. Families cook lentils over small fires in the streets.

Many people say theyve gone weeks without meat, eggs or milk and now live on one meal a day.

Water shortages and health risks

Israel cut off water to Gaza shortly after the Hamas attack, saying its complete siege would be lifted only after the militants released the roughly 240 hostages they captured. Israel has since turned on pipelines to the centre and south, but theres no fuel to pump or process the water. The taps run dry.

Those who cant find or afford bottled water rely on salty, unfiltered well water, which doctors say causes diarrhea and serious gastrointestinal infections.

At shelters, the lack of water makes it hard to maintain even basic hygiene, said Dr. Ali al-Uhisi, who treats patients at one in Deir al-Balah. Lice and chicken pox have spread, he said, and on Wednesday morning alone he treated four cases of meningitis. This week, hes also seen 20 cases of the liver infection hepatitis A.

Frustration and anger

The sense of desperation has strained Gazas close-knit society, which has endured decades of conflict, four wars with Israel and a 16-year blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces.

Some Palestinians have even vented their anger against Hamas, shouting insults at officials or beating up policemen in scenes unimaginable just a month ago, witnesses say.

A uncertain future

Gazas future remains uncertain as Israeli tanks rumble down the ghostly streets of Gaza City with the goal of toppling Hamas. Palestinians say it will never be the same.

"The Gaza I know is just a memory now,” said 16-year-old Jehad Ghandour, who fled to Rafah. "There are no places or anything I know left.”