The Gaza Strip has “simply become uninhabitable,” the head of the United Nations' humanitarian affairs department warned Friday of the Palestinian territory devastated by deadly Israeli bombings sparked by Hamas's bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israel. was devastated.
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“Three months after the horrific attacks of October 7, Gaza has become a place of death and despair” and its residents “face daily threats as the world watches,” Martin Griffiths said in a statement.
Israel has vowed to “destroy” Hamas – an Islamist movement designated as terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union – after it carried out an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, killing around 1,140 people, according to AFP People, mostly civilians, died. The count is based on the Israeli toll. Around 250 people were taken hostage, around 100 of whom were released as part of a ceasefire at the end of November.
Since then, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed 22,600 people, mostly women and minors, according to Friday health ministry figures for Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007.
For Martin Griffiths, “It is time for the parties to fulfill all their obligations under international law – including protecting civilians and providing for their basic needs – and immediately release all hostages.”
“We continue to call for an immediate end to the conflict, not only for the people of Gaza and their threatened neighbors, but also for future generations who will never forget the 90 days of hell and the attacks on the most basic principles. Fundamentals of humanity,” he says.