Any escalation or even continuation of the Israeli military operation in Gaza will be “catastrophic” for the local population, said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Friday.
• Also read: Egypt opens passage for aid supplies to Gaza
• Also read: At the gates of Gaza: insufficient aid that is only arriving slowly
“I can tell you with certainty that any further escalation or even continuation of military activity will be simply disastrous for the people of Gaza,” Grandi said at a news conference in Tokyo.
While emphasizing that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has no official mandate in the Palestinian territories or Israel, Filippo Grandi said that he “shared the extreme concern and grief expressed by many of his colleagues, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations , expressed.” ” to the conflict.
He also reiterated that the consequences of an escalation of the conflict in Lebanon and elsewhere are “unforeseeable.”
On the 14th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by an unprecedented deadly attack by the Palestinian movement ruling Gaza, the United Nations estimates that some 2.4 million Gazans – half of them children – are on the brink of ” Catastrophe”. ” because Israel denies them any access to water, electricity and fuel.
International aid awaited by Palestinians in Gaza is piling up near the border with Egypt on Friday, as entire neighborhoods and more than a million people are destroyed following the siege imposed by Israel on October 9 on the Gaza Strip, already subject to land protection were expelled. Sea and air blockade since Hamas came to power in 2007.
According to Israeli authorities, more than 1,400 people were killed on Israeli territory by Hamas men on October 7, most of them civilians who had been shot, burned alive or mutilated on the day of the Hamas attack.
According to the Israeli army, around 1,500 Hamas fighters were killed in the counteroffensive, which allowed Israel to regain control of the areas attacked. According to the latest Israeli report, Hamas has kidnapped 203 hostages, including foreigners from more than twenty countries.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, 3,785 people, including at least 1,524 children, were killed on the Palestinian side in the Gaza Strip.