“When very little amount of aid comes through, of course, there is going to be a huge rush from the population to go and get it.”
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip are deprived of basic life necessities such as adequate shelter, food, medicine and clean water, according to the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are deprived of adequate shelter, food, medicine & clean water,” the agency said on X on Saturday.
"When very little amount of aid comes through, of course there is going to be a huge rush from the population to go and get it."@UNWateridge explains that people in #Gaza need everything. "These are very desperate times. […] The only answer to that is to provide more aid." pic.twitter.com/G03aggeQeE
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 29, 2024
“The number of crossings into the enclave remains far too limited,” UNRWA stressed.
The agency also warned about the accumulation of trash in the enclave, saying “The ability to dispose of garbage & treat sewage is severely restricted. Trash continues piling up.”
UNRWA’s Senior Communications Officer, Louise Wateridge said, “People are living under plastic sheeting where temperatures soar.”
🔹Hundreds of thousands of people in #Gaza are deprived of adequate shelter, food, medicine & clean water
🔹The number of crossings into the #GazaStrip remains far too limited
🔹The ability to dispose of garbage & treat sewage is severely restricted. Trash continues piling up
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 29, 2024
‘Mountains of Garbage’
She said families “live next to mountains of garbage and sewage,” adding that with very few bathrooms available and unbearable summer heat, “the sanitary conditions are desperate.”
Wateridge also said “People are desperate. These are very desperate times” with hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks to come in.
“When very little amount of aid comes through, of course, there is going to be a huge rush from the population to go and get it,” the UN officer emphasized.
She said people in Gaza “need everything” and the “only answer to that is to provide more aid.”
UNRWA has also warned that infectious diseases continue to spread in Gaza as 67 percent of its water and sanitation facilities have been destroyed or damaged by Israel’s war on the enclave.
‘Catastrophic Risks’ – UNRWA Warns of 330,000 Tons of Accumulated Waste in Gaza
“Over the past 8 months in the Gaza Strip approximately 67% of water, sanitation facilities & infrastructure have been destroyed or damaged,” the relief agency said on X. “As infectious diseases continue to spread and temperature rises, lack of hygiene & dehydration threaten the health of people across Gaza.”
Staggering Death Toll
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 37,877 Palestinians have been killed, and 86,969 wounded. Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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