United Nations, April 25 (RHC)-- Israel is denying Palestinians in the Gaza Strip access to “necessities for human survival,” while continuing to cause “mass casualties” in the blockaded Palestinian territory, the UN warns.
It has been over 52 days since the Israeli regime blocked the entry of food, medicine, and other critical supplies into the war-torn Gaza Strip, even as aid agencies have time and again warned of a full-blown famine across Gaza.
In a report on Wednesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) sounded the warning, stressing that “bombardment on Gaza, including on tents sheltering displaced people, continues to cause mass casualties while the aid blockade over the past 52 days has deprived people of the necessities for human survival.”
In its latest situation assessment, titled Humanitarian Situation Update #282, the UN agency said that the coastal sliver “is now likely facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the 18 months since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023.”
The OCHA report further said that aid operations have stalled in Gaza due to a combination of Israel’s expanding military offensives, blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies for the past 52 days.
Additionally, the regime’s targeting of aid workers and their facilities, along with strict movement restrictions across the region, has further hampered relief efforts, it added.
“Gaza’s health system remains critically strained, with severe shortages of medicine, equipment, and staff, and over half of functioning health facilities in areas under displacement orders,” the UN agency said.
“Israeli military strikes destroy over 30 heavy equipment vehicles, including critical equipment for search-and-rescue operations, waste removal, sewage maintenance, and water supply, raising serious public health concerns amid the ongoing crisis,” it added.
An OCHA official described the situation as the “deliberate dismantling of Palestinian life” in Gaza.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and REUTERS ]
