UNRWA spokeswoman Louise Wateridge in Gaza. UN agencies on Gaza situation: Two million trapped Humanitarian aid
Hunger and dire living conditions, exacerbated by heavy winter rains and ongoing fighting, continue to threaten lives in Gaza. The enclave has become one big “graveyard”, UN humanitarian agencies said on Friday.
“The world doesn’t see what’s happening to these people, families with nowhere to go in these conditions,” said Louise Wateridge of the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
Speaking from Nuseirat in central Gaza after overnight heavy rains, UNRWA’s senior emergency officer said the entire enclave had been “turned into a graveyard.” “More than two million people are trapped,” Wateridge said. “They can’t get out. People are deprived of basic services and it seems like every path you can take here leads to death.”
UNICEF representative Rosalia Bollen also expressed concern. She drew attention to the scale of the food crisis in the strip, reporting that more than 96 percent of women and children are malnourished.
Children are freezing, they are getting wet in the rain, they are walking barefoot
Speaking from Amman, Bollen noted that the northernmost part of Gaza has been under almost complete blockade for 75 days. This has made it almost impossible to deliver humanitarian aid to children, and this situation has continued for more than 10 weeks.
“People are suffering not only physically, but also psychologically… Children are freezing, they are getting wet in the rain, they are walking barefoot. I see many children who are still wearing summer clothes. And with the disappearance of gas for cooking, many children are looking for plastic in the garbage to burn,” she said.
With heavy rain expected again on Friday evening, UNRWA’s Louise Wateridge stressed the critical need to get aid into the Strip to support Gazans who have been repeatedly displaced by Israeli bombing and have no means of protection from the elements. “Families have nowhere to shelter from the rain,” Wateridge said. “Most people are hiding under rag shelters, they don’t even have waterproof shelters, and 69 percent of the buildings here are damaged or destroyed.”
The numerous and ongoing obstacles to aid delivery imposed by the Israeli authorities have forced aid agencies to prioritize food over shelter, leaving Gazans desperate and at risk of being crushed to death for food.
“The only predictability was that winter was coming, which we could prepare for,” Wateridge said. “But we have to make choices, and feeding people is the first thing we have to do, so we can’t help with shelter.” “Women have died in stampedes trying to get a piece of bread,” the UN spokeswoman added.
On Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israeli authorities had again rejected a UN request for access to besieged areas of the northern Gaza Strip to deliver food and water. As a result, Palestinians in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and parts of Jabaliya remain cut off from vital aid.