2023-10-21 22:37:57
The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is “catastrophic,” five UN agencies warned on Saturday, where hospitals are overcrowded and children are dying “at an alarming rate.”
The World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Population Fund recall in a statement that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was already “desperate” before the conflict sparked by the October 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel.
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“It is now catastrophic,” the agencies said, calling on the international community to “do more” to help Gazans.
“Time is running out before mortality rates skyrocket due to the emergence of diseases and lack of health care capacity,” they warn.
The Gaza Strip, a poor, narrow 362 km² territory, has been under an Israeli blockade by land, air and sea since Hamas seized power there in 2007.
Since October 9, it has been in a state of “complete siege” by Israel, which has cut off the supply of water, electricity and food.
According to the five UN agencies, “children are dying at an alarming rate, deprived of their right to protection, food, water and medical care.”
“Hospitals are overflowing with injured people. “Civilians are finding it increasingly difficult to access essential food,” they add.
A first humanitarian aid convoy of 20 trucks, according to the UN, from Egypt, entered on Saturday through the Rafah terminal in Gaza, the only gate that is not controlled by Israel.
But according to the UN, it is insufficient and calls for at least 100 trucks a day for the 2.4 million Gazans deprived of everything.
More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israeli territory since Hamas launched its attack on October 7, according to authorities. Most were civilians who died that same day. On the other hand, according to the Israeli army, some 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in the Israeli counteroffensive that followed the Islamist movement’s assault.
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In the Gaza Strip, more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the incessant bombings that Israel has launched in response to the Hamas attack, according to the Palestinian movement’s Ministry of Health.
In addition, Hamas is holding about 200 people captive, according to the Israeli military.
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