UN warns Gazans being ‘packed in ever-smaller area’, running out of water
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Palestinians searching for casualties at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Oct 17, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations warned on Tuesday that Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip are being “packed into an ever-smaller area” and life-saving essentials have essentially run out
“It is now estimated that as many as one million people have fled their homes to other parts of Gaza,” senior UN aid official Joyce Msuya told a meeting convened by Arab envoys on the enclave, which is controlled by Hamas militants.
Israel last week ordered some 1.1 million people in Gaza – almost half the population – to move south
“In reality, civilians have nowhere to go – nowhere to escape the bombs and missiles, and nowhere to find water or food, or to escape the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe,” Ms Msuya said, urging a “humanitarian suspension of hostilities”.
Israel has put Gaza under a total siege and subjected it to the most intense bombardment. It has vowed to annihilate Hamas after it killed 1,300 people and seized hostages in an Oct 7 attack on Israel.
International diplomacy has been focused on trying to broker a humanitarian pause in the conflict near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow the delivery of aid.
Egypt says Rafah has not been officially closed but has become inoperable due to the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza side.
“We can’t move humanitarian trucks and convoys while active bombardment is ongoing,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
“There are intense discussions going on, in which we’re involved, with a number of parties in order to try to get the most basic humanitarian aid in as quickly as possible.”
After nine hours of negotiations, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said early on Tuesday he had agreed with Israel “to develop a plan” to get aid into Gaza. is due to visit Israel on Wednesday.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is travelling to Egypt on Tuesday and plans to visit Israel, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to arrive in Cairo on Thursday.
Mr Ted Chaiban, a deputy executive director at the United Nations Children’s Fund, told the meeting on Tuesday that there was a risk of an infectious disease outbreak in Gaza as water supplies run out.
“We have a population of 2.3 million in Gaza, essentially without drinking water. We’re down to 3 litres per person, when the normal average should be 15 litres,” he said. REUTERS
