UN warns Gaza 'perfect storm for tragedy'
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UN Spokesperson James Elder says if children are continuously denied water and sanitation, the number of children dying may increase "exponentially".
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Palestinians stand in line to get water in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 13, 2023. (AP)
The United Nations has warned that a lack of fuel, a shortage of water, and deteriorating sanitation in Gaza, along with attacks on healthcare facilities and mass displacement, have created a "perfect storm for tragedy."
On Monday, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child confirmed that the war on Gaza has taken the lives of over 4,600 children since October 7, with the level of brutality being the highest in recent decades.
In a statement released on World Children's Day, the Committee said, "More than 4,600 children have been killed in Gaza in only five weeks. This war has claimed the lives of more children in a shorter time and with a level of brutality that we have not witnessed in recent decades."
The toll stands at over 5,500 martyred children and approximately 9,000 injured in Gaza; i.e. one Palestinian child killed every 10 minutes or about one out of every 200 children in the Gaza Strip.
Parts of Gaza getting less than 3 litres of water daily
UN Spokesperson James Elder said, "If children's access to water and sanitation in Gaza continue to be restricted and insufficient, we will see a tragic -- yet entirely avoidable -- surge in the number of children dying."
Elder stated that the daily minimum required in an emergency is 15 liters (four gallons) of water per person, stressing that in some areas of Gaza, just three liters per day are accessible, and none on other days.
He called it the "perfect storm for the spread of disease," emphasizing a "desperate lack of water, faecal matter strewn across densely-populated settlements (and) an unacceptable lack of latrines."
Elder emphasized the critical necessity for adequate fuel to be let into the region in order to restart water pumps, desalination units, and waste management.
A recent deal was made to release 70,000 liters of fuel into the Strip per day, but the UN estimates 200,000 liters per day are required for humanitarian needs.
UNRWA shelters are extremely overpopulated with nearly 900,000 displaced taking shelter in them.
According to Elder, there are 700 people to one shower unit and 150 people to one toilet at such shelters.
Hospitals no longer functional
On his part, Gaza Health Ministry Spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra stated on Tuesday that hospitals in northern Gaza are completely out of service, while the occupancy rate in Gaza hospitals reached 190%.
The WHO has described Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza as a "death zone" with plans for immediate evacuation due to the dire conditions, including a mass grave at the entrance and nearly 300 patients left inside with 25 health workers.
However, according to WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, two more people died prior to the evacuation.
Three of the evacuated newborns were being treated at a hospital in southern Gaza, while the remaining 28 landed in Egypt on Monday.
Lindmeier said that over 72,000 instances of upper respiratory infections had been identified in shelters and warned that if an epidemic occured, the number of dead children will increase "exponentially".
