The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Tuesday called Gaza City “hell on Earth.”
Philippe Lazzarini wrote this impression on the social network X (formerly Twitter) after visiting the Palestinian territory, which has been under intense Israeli bombing for more than two months.
“In Gaza the tragedy is getting worse and worse. People are everywhere, they live on the streets, they have nothing. They plead for safety and for an end to this hell on Earth. We demand the impossible from our colleagues.” in this impossible situation,” said Lazzarini.
Lazarini’s words came on the same day the Israeli army again stepped up its offensive against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip, where a UN official stressed civilians are trying to escape bombs in increasingly desperate humanitarian conditions.
Ground battles accompanied by deadly airstrikes are taking place between Israeli soldiers and Islamist militants in the area of Khan Younes, a major southern city where hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken refuge from the war in the northern Palestinian territory. .
Forced to flee again, tens of thousands of people are now sheltering in makeshift camps in the neighboring city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where food is in short supply despite limited distribution of humanitarian aid.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas’ health ministry said the army launched an attack on Kamal Adwan hospital on Tuesday after “surrounding and bombarding” it for days.
Several hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been damaged by fighting since the war began, with Israel accusing Hamas of building infrastructure there and using civilians as human shields.
More than half the homes have been destroyed or damaged by the war in the Gaza Strip, where 1.9 million people – 85% of the population – have been forced from their homes, according to the UN.
Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip and bordering Egypt, has become a giant refugee camp where hundreds of tents have been hastily erected from scrap wood, plastic sheets and sheets.
“More and more people haven’t eaten for a day, two days, three days? People don’t have enough of everything,” Lazzarini said Monday.
“No hygiene, no food, no water… We don’t have access to sanitary pads, we have to use rags,” lamented 18-year-old Samar Shalhoub.
On October 8, one day after Hamas’s unprecedented and unexpected attack on Israel, Tel Aviv imposed a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Food, medicine and fuel continue to flow from Egypt, but aid cannot reach outside Rafah as access to the north is cut off by fighting, according to the UN.
The UN and humanitarian organizations have called on Israel, which controls the entry of humanitarian aid, to allow more trucks into the territory.
Israeli bombing, sparked by an Islamist attack, has killed more than 18,200 people in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of them women and children under 18, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.
The attack killed 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to authorities.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union (EU).
In parallel with a campaign of devastating airstrikes, the army has been conducting a ground offensive against Hamas since October 27, initially concentrated in the northern Gaza Strip and then spreading throughout the territory.
The Israeli army said Monday that 104 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since ground fighting began.
The seven-day truce, from November 24 to December 1, allowed the release of 105 hostages held by Hamas and its affiliated groups, while 137 hostages remain in custody in the Gaza Strip.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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