The Cabinet Warns of the Return of Famine and the Escalation of the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza Strip

SadaNews - On Tuesday, during its weekly session, the Palestinian Cabinet warned of the seriousness of the reports revealed by UN agencies regarding the immediate risk of famine faced by approximately 1.6 million people in the Gaza Strip, which constitutes about 77% of the Strip's population, due to the decline in humanitarian funding and the decrease in aid flow.

In the same context, the Cabinet renewed its call for urgent and coordinated international action to implement early recovery programs that ensure the restoration of basic services and improve humanitarian and living conditions, affirming the government's readiness to work with partners to ensure the continued operation of national institutions and to enhance national unity and Palestinian authority over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It emphasized that any temporary arrangements to address the crisis should support the government's ability to fulfill its national responsibilities across all territories of the State of Palestine, including the Gaza Strip, and should not replace Palestinian authority or fully regularize the transfer of clearance funds.

The Cabinet also condemned the escalation of terrorist attacks by settlers, which reached 143 attacks in one week, targeting 17 Palestinian villages, resulting in the martyrdom of the youth Yusuf Ka'abneh (16 years old) at the hands of settlers in a bloody attack on the village of Jaljulia north of Ramallah. The assaults also resulted in injuries to 13 citizens, alongside the execution of four demolitions of Palestinian facilities, the distribution of 51 additional demolition notices, and the issuance of military orders to confiscate land in the town of Qabatiya and the besieged village of Nabi Samuel.

Moreover, the Cabinet condemned the occupation authorities' approval to convert the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood into military facilities, considering it a blatant violation of international law and an assault on the work of the United Nations and its institutions and their immunity in the occupied Palestinian territories. It reiterated its demand for international protection for the Palestinian people and the cessation of settler attacks and settlement expansion.

In this context, while the Cabinet commends public sector employees for their patience and dedication to serving their people and enhancing their resilience, it urges all unions to suspend protest activities to strengthen the cohesion of the internal front against the fierce onslaught from the occupation government and its settlers.

The Cabinet reaffirms that clearance funds are Palestinian funds, and their transfer to the Palestinian Ministry of Finance must be implemented completely and regularly, based on the signed agreements and existing obligations.

In light of this financial blockade imposed on the government, the Ministry of Finance continues its efforts to secure the payment of a portion of the salary before the holiday, and it will issue a statement regarding this later, along with a series of other steps aimed at enhancing the resilience of the employees.

Additionally, in another matter, the Cabinet congratulated the president and the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement - Fatah - on the successful convening of the eighth conference as one of the paths of the democratic and national approach embraced and announced by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Furthermore, the Cabinet directed the Ministry of Agriculture to take the necessary actions according to procedures for numbering and documenting livestock to prove ownership amidst the rising attacks by settlers on livestock and the recurrence of theft incidents, along with further steps to enhance support programs for livestock breeders.

The Cabinet also approved the recommendations of the technical committee for managing state property during its meeting number 154, including allocating government land in Jericho to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education for establishing a school, and allocating a piece of land from Zawata in the Nablus governorate for creating a public park, in addition to leasing plots of land in the Nablus governorate for agricultural purposes.

The Cabinet also approved funding requests for non-profit companies from donor entities for emergency and developmental purposes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem.

On the occasion of the approaching Eid al-Adha, the Cabinet congratulated the entire Palestinian people, wishing that the next holiday would arrive with the fulfillment of our people's aspirations for freedom and independence, declaring a holiday leave from the morning of next Tuesday until the evening of Saturday.