\n<\/p>\n
The Norwegian Refugee Council says the \u2018deliberate denial of energy access\u2019 undermines human needs in Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n The lack of reliable energy sources is a key threat to survival in war-torn Gaza, an NGO has warned.<\/p>\n The \u201cdeliberate denial of energy access\u201d, like electricity and fuel, \u201cundermines fundamental human needs\u201d in the war-torn enclave, a report published on Monday by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) cautioned. The alert is just the latest regarding the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is driven by Israel\u2019s blockade amid its war against Hamas.<\/p>\n Israel halted the entry of food, water and fuel in March, putting the Palestinian territory\u2019s population at risk of famine.<\/p>\n Electricity supply has also been limited. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 2.1 million people in Gaza have no access to power.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Gaza, energy is not about convenience \u2013 it\u2019s about survival,\u201d Benedicte Giaever, executive director of NORCAP, which is part of NRC, said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen families can\u2019t cook, when hospitals go dark and when water pumps stop running, the consequences are immediate and devastating. The international community must prioritise energy in all humanitarian efforts,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n NRC\u2019s report noted that without power, healthcare facilities in Gaza have been adversely impacted, with emergency surgeries having to be delayed, and ventilators, incubators and dialysis machines unable to function.<\/p>\n Lack of electricity has also impacted Gaza\u2019s desalination facilities, leaving 70 percent of households without access to clean water and forcing households to burn plastic or debris to cook, NRC said.<\/p>\n The humanitarian organisation also highlighted how the lack of power has increased the risks of gender-based violence after dark.<\/p>\n \u201cFor too long, the people of Gaza have endured cycles of conflict, blockade, and deprivation. But the current crisis represents a new depth of despair, threatening their immediate survival and their long-term prospects for recovery and development,\u201d NRC\u2019s Secretary General Jan Egeland said, urging the international community to ensure the people in Gaza gain access to energy.<\/p>\n Amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, hundreds of people have been killed by the Israeli military as they have sought food and other vital supplies from aid stations set up by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).<\/p>\n In its latest daily update released on Monday, the Health Ministry in Gaza said the bodies of at least 39 people had been brought to hospitals over the previous 24 hours. At least 317 people were wounded, it added.<\/p>\n Since Israel eased its total blockade last month, more than 400 people are reported to have died trying to reach food distribution points.<\/p>\n The UN\u2019s top humanitarian official in the occupied Palestinian territory issued a stark warning on Sunday over the deepening crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food,\u201d said Jonathan Whittall, who heads OCHA in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThe attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Norwegian Refugee Council says the \u2018deliberate denial of energy access\u2019 undermines human needs in Gaza. The lack of reliable energy sources is a key threat to survival in war-torn Gaza, an NGO has warned. The \u201cdeliberate denial of energy access\u201d, like electricity and fuel, \u201cundermines fundamental human needs\u201d in the war-torn enclave, a report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1753,267,187,611,1233,1758,150,1757,1754,1755,1756],"class_list":{"0":"post-9466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-adds","9":"tag-conflict","10":"tag-crisis","11":"tag-energy","12":"tag-gaza","13":"tag-israelpalestine","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-ngo","16":"tag-survival","17":"tag-threats","18":"tag-wartorn"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}