The humanitarian situation in Gaza is currently “catastrophic,” five UN organizations warned on Saturday, leaving hospitals “overflowing” with the wounded and children “dying at an alarming rate.”
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In a statement, the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Population Fund recalled that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was “desperate” even before the outbreak of the conflict and the Hamas attacks in Israel October 7th.
“Today is catastrophic,” they continue, calling on the international community to “do more” to help Gazans.
“Time is running out before mortality rates skyrocket due to disease outbreaks and a lack of healthcare capacity,” they warn.
The Gaza Strip, a poor and cramped area of 362 square kilometers, has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since Hamas came to power in 2007 and has been under a “complete siege” since October 9 by Israel, which has cut off water , electricity and food supply there.
According to the UN, the first humanitarian aid convoy with 20 trucks from Egypt entered on Saturday through the Rafah border crossing, the only entry point into the Gaza Strip that is not in Israeli hands. For the United Nations, this number is completely inadequate. They want 100 trucks a day for the 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip who lack everything.
“The people of Gaza need much more, a massive delivery of aid is necessary,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the “Peace Summit” in Cairo.
According to the five UN agencies, “children are dying at alarming rates because they are deprived of their rights to protection, food, water and health care.”
“Hospitals are overcrowded with injured people. Access to essential food for civilians is becoming increasingly difficult,” they continue.
More than 1,400 people have been killed by Hamas men on Israeli territory since October 7th. Most civilians were mowed down by bullets, burned alive or died as a result of mutilations on the first day of the attack by fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
According to the Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip by incessant bombing by the Israeli army.
According to the Israeli army, Hamas is also holding around 200 hostages.