The UN warned this Friday that the population of the Gaza Strip urgently needs “significant and continuous” aid, and that it only has enough fuel for one day of operations in the territory under Israeli bombardment.
The UN also confirmed the deaths of 57 employees of its Palestine Refugee Assistance Agency in the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
At a news conference in Jerusalem, UNRWA commissioner Philippe Lazzarini warned that “many will soon die” due to the siege imposed by Israel.
“At this very moment, people in Gaza are dying, not only due to bombs and attacks, but many more will soon die due to the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip,” he said, quoted by the French agency AFP.
“Basic services are collapsing, supplies of medicine, food and water are running out and sewage is beginning to overflow into the streets of Gaza,” he described.
Lazzarini affirmed that the aid that has entered Palestinian territory since October 21 is far from being enough to cover the needs of the more than two million inhabitants of the enclave.
“The current system is doomed to failure. What we need is significant and continued aid, and we need a humanitarian ceasefire so that this aid can reach those who need it,” he said.
The UN agency needs 160,000 liters of fuel to cover the humanitarian needs of the enclave under Hamas control since 2007.
“We only have fuel for today [esta sexta-feira]”Lazzarini warned, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
Lazzarini said some of the fuel entered Gaza through an agreement between Israel and Qatar, but UNRWA will only be able to continue operations and supply “partners, bakeries and hospitals” if it has access to that supply.
“Whether we will have access to this fuel or not will only be possible if there is a clarification with Israel,” he admitted.
Hamas announced that more than seven thousand people have been killed since the start of the bombing campaign launched by Israel following the Islamist group’s unprecedented attack on its territory on October 7.
Asked about these figures, Philippe Lazzarini stated that in previous wars in Gaza, the balances provided by Hamas “were considered credible and no one ever questioned them.”
If the total number of fatalities is related to the number of employees of UN agencies killed, “we find more or less the same percentage,” he said.
Lazzarini confirmed the deaths of at least 57 UN employees since the start of the current war between Israel and Hamas.
“Mothers, fathers, magnificent people, who dedicated their lives to their community” and who “if they were not in Gaza, they could have been their neighbors,” he added.
The war was triggered by Hamas attacks on Israeli soil, unprecedented in violence and scale.
Israel says Hamas has killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped two hundred Israelis and foreigners, holding them hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Source: TSF
