Gaza has ‘simply become uninhabitable’: UN humanitarian chief
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Much of the Gaza Strip has already been reduced to rubble.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Jan 5 that Gaza had become uninhabitable after relentless bombing by Israeli forces in retaliation for the Hamas militant group’s attack in October.
“Three months since the horrific Oct 7 attacks, Gaza has become a place of death and despair,” he said in a statement.
“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on.
“The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than two million people.”
With much of the Gaza Strip already reduced to rubble, air strikes continued through the night in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as parts of central Gaza, on Jan 5.
The Israeli army said its forces had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including military positions, rocket launch sites and weapons depots.
“We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbours, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity,” Mr Griffiths said.
“This war should never have started. But it is long past time for it to end.”
The Hamas assault on Oct 7 resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians.
In response, Israel launched a bombardment and ground invasion that have killed at least 22,600 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. AFP
