UN agencies warn of looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza

UN representatives, including Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), emphasized the severity of the situation resulting from the ongoing blockade in the region.

Lazzarini highlighted the deteriorating conditions, stating that "people in Gaza are dying not only from bombs and strikes but soon many more will die from the consequences of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip." Basic services are collapsing, with shortages of medicine, food, and water, compounded by overflowing sewage in the streets.

The situation is becoming increasingly dire, with hunger and disease emerging as critical concerns for the 2 million people living in Gaza. Despite existing aid efforts, Lazzarini described the current aid levels as "nothing more than crumbs," insufficient to meet the needs of the populace.

Furthermore, concerns were raised about the blockade's collective punishment affecting essential commodities, leaving the majority, including children and women, in a state of despair.

The head of UNRWA dismissed concerns about aid diversion, assuring that strict mechanisms were in place to ensure aid reached those in need and not into the wrong hands, addressing Israel's complaints of aid diversion by Hamas for military use.

The UN officials reiterated the urgent need to allow fuel into Gaza to sustain basic services and humanitarian operations. They highlighted the devastating impact of the fuel shortage, including limitations on operations and heartbreaking consequences such as the loss of UNRWA staff, with 57 workers in Gaza having lost their lives since the conflict began.

Additionally, israel's opposition to delivering aid to Northern Gaza, where many civilians remain trapped, was underlined by Lynn Hastings, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Palestine.

The World Food Programme spokesperson, Abeer Etefa, stressed the scarcity of basic supplies in Gaza, with diminishing conditions also observed in the West Bank. The World Health Organization acknowledged that an estimated 1,000 unidentified bodies might still be buried under the rubble in Gaza, not yet accounted for in the death toll.

Gaza's health authorities reported more than 7,000 casualties due to Israeli bombardments in the past three weeks.

The UN agencies urgently called for increased humanitarian aid and the lifting of the blockade to prevent a catastrophic escalation of the crisis in Gaza. (ILKHA)