'Israel' destroyed half of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza: Lazzarini
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More than 500 people have been killed in Gaza's UNRWA headquarters amid 'Israel's' bombardment of the Strip since October 7.
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Damaged headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City, on February 15, 2024 (AFP)
Half of UNRWA's headquarters in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed due to "Israel's" ongoing genocide in Gaza, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a press conference on Monday.
The occupation forces' daily assault on the Gaza Strip since October 7 has killed over 500 people in the headquarters and displaced approximately 250,000 people from Khan Younis "for the sixth or seventh time based on Israeli instructions," Lazzarini said.
He reiterated a warning sounded by the agency on various occasions that there were no safe places in Gaza.
On his part, UNRWA spokesperson, Louise Wateridge said, describing the mass destruction in Khan Younis, "Everywhere you look, destruction."
Wateridge also commented on the vulnerable conditions of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza, detailing the “huge craters along rubble-filled roads, and little hope for those remaining here."
Over 38,200 Palestinians have been killed by the occupation forces since October 7, the majority being women and children.
Ambulance and civil defense teams are prohibited by Israeli soldiers from approaching victims, leaving many more trapped beneath rubble and on the roads.
The Lancet estimates 'Israel' killed up to 186,000 Palestinians in war
A study by the British scientific journal The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, predicts that the number of martyrs killed during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, both directly and indirectly, will exceed 186,000.
The journal based this estimate on the consideration that armed conflicts have indirect health effects that extend beyond the direct harm caused by violence.
The journal then explained that "even if the conflict were to end immediately, many indirect deaths will continue to be recorded in the coming months and years due to causes such as reproductive diseases, infectious diseases, and non-communicable diseases."
Additionally, it noted that "the total number of deaths is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict, the devastated healthcare infrastructure, the severe shortage of food, water, and shelter, the inability of the population to move to safe places, and the loss of funding for UNRWA."
The British journal emphasized that "in recent conflicts, the number of indirect deaths has ranged from 3 to 15 times the number of direct deaths," adding, "If we apply a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths for every direct death, we will find that this figure is much higher than the number of direct deaths."
Given the more than 37,000 reported deaths in Gaza, it is not surprising to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be recorded in Gaza, the British journal stressed.
It added that using the estimated population of the Gaza Strip for 2022, which is 2,375,259 people, would translate to 7.9% of the total population in the sector.
Furthermore, The Lancet emphasized that an immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is necessary, "accompanied by measures to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources to meet basic humanitarian needs."
It stressed that there is a "need to record the scale and nature of suffering in this conflict," adding that "documenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war."
