UN officials decry dire situation in Gaza; population at risk of death
3 Min Read
The UN expert for the occupied Palestinian territory wrote on X on Sunday that the whole population is "at risk of dying in a genocide that has been announced and executed under our watch."
-
A man reacts over the bodies of children killed in an Israeli strike that targeted an area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 25, 2024. (AFP)
"Israel's" genocide threatens the whole Gaza Strip's population, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese maintained.
The UN expert for the occupied Palestinian territory wrote on X on Sunday that the whole population is "at risk of dying in a genocide that has been announced and executed under our watch."
In a subsequent post on Sunday, Albanese stated that 20,000 children are missing in Gaza, with "some maimed beyond recognition," in addition to the 17,000 slain in the previous 12 months.
The entire population of Gaza is at risk of dying in a genocide that has been announced and executed under our watch. https://t.co/0XXWzJHH8S
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) October 26, 2024
Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, cautioned Saturday that the Strip's 2.23 million citizens are at risk of death, detailing that Israeli occupation troops' "blatant disregard for basic humanity" must end immediately, decrying the prevention of food supplies and critical aid from entering the areas.
According to Gaza's Civil Defense rescue personnel, hundreds of civilians have been killed since the regime's horrors began in the north.
Jonathan Fowler, a spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency overseeing the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, described what is happening as a "catastrophe within a series of catastrophes."
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini expressed that civilians have "no choice but to either leave or starve."
UN human rights experts have cautioned that "Israel" is conducting a "targeted starvation campaign," killing scores of children.
They condemned the regime's deliberate starvation effort as genocidal warfare, resulting in widespread hunger in Gaza.
Israeli aggression in northern Gaza making life 'untenable': UN Chief
The "devastation and deprivation" inflicted by the Israeli aggression in northern Gaza is "making the conditions of life untenable" for Palestinians there, according to the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday. "The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in northern Gaza is unbearable," Stephane Dujarric stated in a statement.
"Israel" has been shelling northern Gaza for weeks, claiming that the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, is regrouping there.
"The Secretary-General is shocked by the harrowing levels of death, injury, and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and wounded going without life-saving health care, and families lacking food and shelter, amid reports of families being separated and many people detained," according to the statement.
According to Dujarric, Israeli officials continue to block attempts to bring humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in need, "with few exceptions, putting countless lives in peril."
According to a report issued Tuesday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli officials enabled just four out of 70 scheduled humanitarian movements into Gaza during the first three weeks in October.
A UN-led program to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio has also been postponed in the Strip's north, according to Dujarric, "putting thousands of children's lives at risk."
"This conflict continues to be waged with little regard for the requirements of international humanitarian law," he cited.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that "Israel’s" heavy bombardment has hindered children in northern Gaza from receiving their third and final dose of the polio vaccine. On Wednesday, the WHO announced the postponement of the final phase of its vaccination campaign, which was scheduled to start the same day.
