Israel-Hamas conflict: Medical aid website under cyberattack

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the Medical aid for Palestinians has said that their website is under cyber attack which has hindered relief efforts for Gaza. It has also issued a warning that the website might fall offline shortly as a result of the disturbances.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter) it wrote, “Our website has been under cyber attack since this afternoon, in an apparent attempt to prevent people donating towards our medical relief efforts for #Gaza. As a result we are experiencing disruptions and the website may go offline.”

Hamas has also made an urgent plea to international relief organisations to deliver essential medical and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, CNN report stated as reported by ANI. The region is facing risk of starvation and the imminent depletion of fuel resources as Israel has withheld critical supplies in response to Hamas’ recent acts of violence. Earlier on Monday, Israeli authorities had also ordered a “complete siege” and an “immediate” cut to water supply to the Gaza Strip.

Issuing a statement, Hamas urged “all relief, health, and charitable institutions in the Arab, Islamic, and international communities to swiftly provide necessary medical and humanitarian aid, as well as fuel, to save the lives of over two million Palestinian residents,” as quoted by CNN.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians escalated after Hamas fighters on Saturday fired more than 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. In retaliation, Israel has been bombarding Gaza and also ordered a “complete siege” and an “immediate” cut to water supply.

Earlier on Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and said that the use of these weapons puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury. However, on the allegations, it said that “it was currently aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorous in Gaza,” as reported by Reuters.

Following the heavy Israeli bombardments in retaliation for Hamas’s attacks, a United Nations has said that more than 423,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip. As per UN humanitarian agency OCHA, as of Thursday, the number of displaced in Gaza rose by 84,444 people to reach 423,378.

It said more than 270,000 people, two-thirds of the displaced have sought shelter in schools run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA while nearly 27,000 people had fled to schools run by the Palestinian Authority, while more than 153,000 people found shelter with relatives and neighbours and in other public facilities.

OCHA added that the bombing campaign has destroyed 752 residential and non-residential buildings, 2,835 housing units, citing numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Another nearly 1,800 housing units have been damaged beyond repair and rendered uninhabitable, it said. Further adding, it said, at least 90 educational facilities, including 20 UNRWA schools and 70 schools run by the Palestinian Authority have also been struck and damaged while one school is completely destroyed. LiveMint