2023-12-26 02:35:00
Humanitarian aid enters Gaza in dribs and drabs. Photo: AFP file
A World Health Organization (WHO) humanitarian caravan carrying water and food for two hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip was looted by hungry local residents, the institution reported this Monday.
“Food and water delivered to two hospitals in northern Gaza on December 23 were forcibly taken by people desperate for food,” the WHO regional director said. for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed al Mandhari.
“The levels of hunger and desperation in Gaza are reaching catastrophic levels,” added the official in his message on the social network X.
The representative of the organization stressed that Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million residents are at high risk of food insecurityaccording to the Sputnik news agency.
The head of the UN Palestine Refugee Agency in the Gaza Strip, Thomas White, said earlier this month that UN cars in the enclave were attacked with stones and several humanitarian aid convoys were looted.
The situation of the Gazans becomes desperate. Photo: AFP file
On October 7, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, leaving around 1,200 dead and around 5,500 injured, mostly civilians, and capturing around 240 hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and began massive attacks on Gaza, imposing a total blockade of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel.
On October 27, Israel launched a large-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 20,600 dead and 54,500 injured.according to Hamas.
From November 24 to the 1st of this month, a humanitarian truce agreed with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States allowed Israeli hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and increased the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
When the truce ended, war operations resumed and the flow of aid arriving was reduced again to a fifth of what Gaza received before that war, according to the UN.
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