2023-10-29 13:27:53
The humanitarian crisis worsens in the Gaza Strip after the intensification of Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave in the last two days. The UN warns this Sunday (29) that the situation is becoming more “desperate” every day and public order is beginning to collapse there.
Published on: 10/29/2023 – 12:27
3 min
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) indicated that thousands of people invaded the institution’s food depots in the center and south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday (28). According to the UN, this is a “worrying” sign about the state of calamity that the Palestinians are experiencing.
“People are scared, frustrated, desperate,” said UNRWA director of operations in Gaza, Thomas White. “Food products are running out in the markets, while the humanitarian aid that arrives via trucks from Egypt is insufficient. The population is in great need: there is a lack of basic products necessary for survival, while the aid that arrives is scarce and incoherent” , he reiterated.
A journalist from AFP witnessed Palestinians who fled attacks in the north of the enclave invade a humanitarian aid center in Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip. According to him, people carried bags of flour, lentils and sugar in their arms, as well as cans of oil.
White says that just over 80 aid trucks have arrived in the Palestinian enclave since October 21, when Israel authorized the opening of the Rafah crossing, in the south of the territory, on the border with Egypt. “The current convoy system is doomed to failure. Few vehicles can pass, the process is slow, control is strict, the products that arrive do not meet the needs of UNRWA and other humanitarian aid organizations. Furthermore, the entry of fuels remains prohibited and all of this is a recipe for a failed system”, highlights the director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli Armed Forces asked residents of the Gaza Strip this Saturday to head to the south of the territory, where the distribution of humanitarian aid is expected to improve. The north of the enclave was devastated by bombings carried out since Friday night (27), when entire neighborhoods were reduced to ashes. Tel Aviv indicated that it targeted 450 Hamas targets, but thousands of civilian homes were destroyed.
“Increasingly desperate” situation
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned this Sunday of the state of calamity in the enclave. He lamented that Israel had intensified its military operations there despite calls for a ceasefire.
For Guterres, the number of victims of the war between Israel and Hamas is “completely unacceptable”. According to Tel Aviv, since the group’s attack on the country on October 7, 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side. On Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health indicated that more than 8,000 individuals had died in Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in just over three weeks.
Appealing for “an immediate ceasefire”, the UN chief highlighted the urgency of “aid that meets the needs of the population”. “The world is witness to a humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes,” he said. “More than two million people, who have nowhere to go safely; are deprived of essential elements of life – food, water, shelter, medical care – while they are subjected to incessant bombings”, highlighted Guterres.
(With information from AFP)
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