‘Hunger and despair’: UN agency deplores Gaza conditions, child casualties

 UNRWA’s chief says half a million Palestinians are in crammed UN buildings, with scarce food or water and nowhere to sleep.

A woman holds her child at a tent camp at a UN-run centre in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 30, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Published On 31 Oct 202331 Oct 2023

An urgent ceasefire is a matter of life and death for millions in the Gaza Strip, an official warned at a United Nations Security Council emergency briefing, noting climbing child casualties as Israel continues to bombard the enclave.

Palestinians in Gaza are facing a life-or-death crisis aggravated by the struggle to deliver aid to the Strip’s more than two million inhabitants, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), at the meeting on Monday.

“The level of destruction is unprecedented, the human tragedy unfolding under our watch is unbearable,” the official said. “The current siege imposed on Gaza is collective punishment.”

More than half a million Palestinians forced from their homes due to Israel’s bombing campaign, continuing for three weeks, are now sheltering in crammed UNRWA schools and buildings, with scarce food and water and often nowhere to sleep, he reported.

“Hunger and despair are turning into anger against the international community,” Lazzarini said, adding that the meagre aid allowed in through Egypt starting last week was nowhere near sufficient.

Israel began allowing limited aid into Gaza on October 21, but in-depth inspections of each convoy have caused lengthy delays. Israel has also categorically refused to allow fuel to be shipped in, leaving the enclave’s few operational hospitals at risk of closure.

‘Last remaining lifeline’

On Sunday, Palestinians, desperate due to continued blockade and bombing, broke into UN warehouses, taking wheat, flour, and other basic survival goods.

“A further breakdown in civil order will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating, “ Lazzarini warned the UNSC assembly.

“I say this while being fully aware that UNRWA is the last remaining lifeline for the Palestinian people in Gaza,” he added.

UN workers distribute aid to Palestinians, who have fled their homes due to Israeli air raids and taken shelter in a UN-run school in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 23, 2023 [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

To increase the flow of much-needed aid, UN officials have urged Israel to open up Karem Abu Salem, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, border crossing with Gaza, saying it is the only passage equipped to take in enough trucks. Israel has so far refused to open any of its crossing points with the enclave, on which it has imposed a land, air, and sea blockade for 16 years.