Lynn Hastings stressed that the increasing hostilities have pushed almost half of the Gaza Strip’s population, or about a million people, to Rafah in the south, exacerbating the serious health and hunger crisis.
“The reason why Gaza is not safe is not just because of the airstrikes, but also because of the airstrikes due to the conditions created by the massive displacement of the population in increasingly smaller areas,” which also jeopardizes the humanitarian operation in the enclave, she said.
Call for access to hostages and detainees
Ms. Hastings also emphasized that a ceasefire could facilitate the release of hostages taken by Hamas during the deadly terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, and reiterated calls for access to the hostages.
Access for humanitarian partners, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), should also be granted to medical personnel detained by Israeli forces, such as the director of Al-Shifa Hospital, who was targeted last month by a military raid .
Ms Hastings’ comments to journalists in Geneva from Jerusalem followed Tuesday’s overwhelming vote at the UN General Assembly in favor of an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and the ” guaranteeing humanitarian access”.
Most Gazans lack food
The UN official stressed that infectious diseases are spreading in Gaza, that less than a third of all hospitals are at least partially functioning, that shelters have long exceeded capacity and that the vast majority of people do not have enough food or water.
Almost half of the population in the north and a third of the population in the south suffer from it “severe hunger” This is evident from a recent assessment by the UN World Food Program (WFP).
Ms. Hastings underlined that Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for protecting Palestinian civilians in the enclave, meeting their basic needs and ensuring unfettered access to aid. That not only means that aid trucks can enter Gaza, but also that humanitarian workers can provide aid to anyone who needs it, she said.
Markets must open
The UN humanitarian coordinator stressed that the aid sector must work side by side with the public and commercial sectors “as we do around the world” to properly support the people of Gaza.
“We need markets to be open,” she said, and commercial goods to flow in so that a malnutrition crisis can be avoided.
Ms Hastings on Tuesday welcomed the screening of UN aid trucks at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing for the first time since the escalation began. Some There, 80 trucks were checked and approved before being sent to Rafah to enter the enclave, she said.
It reiterated calls for the full reopening of the Kerem Shalom crossing for both humanitarian and commercial traffic, which was the main entry point for goods into the Strip before 7 October, and underlined that the Rafah crossing was structurally not intended for the passage of hundreds of emergency vehicles.
Ms. Hastings emphasized the integrity of the humanitarian operation and said Israeli authorities had not raised any concerns at the UN about aid being diverted from their trucks in Gaza.
![Trucks transport food aid to northern Gaza during the recent humanitarian pause. Trucks transport food aid to northern Gaza during the recent humanitarian pause.](https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/Collections/Embargoed/12-12-2023-WFP-Gaza-03.jpg/image770x420cropped.jpg)
© WFP/Ali Jadallah
Attacks on UN buildings
Addressing the issue of the security of UN facilities in the Gaza Strip, Ms Hastings reported the destruction using explosives by Israeli forces of a UN Agency for Palestine Refugee (UNRWA) school in Beit Hanoun in the north , reportedly on Tuesday, and stressed that the UN was not aware of any justification for this move.
She also said that despite the fact that deconfliction measures have been taken, with the UN repeatedly informing parties to the conflict where their facilities are located, 130 incidents have affected deconflicted UN installations since October 7 and 62 of them have resulted in casualties. UNRWA estimates that at least 283 displaced people seeking safety in its shelters have been killed and nearly 1,000 injured.
Damage to infrastructure
According to satellite images, about 60 percent of homes in Gaza have already been damaged or destroyed, Ms. Hastings said.
Responding to reports of the possible flooding of Gaza’s underground tunnels with seawater by the Israeli army, Ms Hastings warned that if this were to happen it would cause “serious damage” to the already compromised water and sanitation structure in the enclave, and would endanger the Gaza Strip’s “very vulnerable” infrastructure. fragile” ecosystem and create a risk of buildings and roads collapsing.
Violence and poverty in the West Bank
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator also highlighted the increasingly fragile situation in the United States occupied West Bank, where 464 Palestinians have been killed this year, more than half since October 7. About 3,000 people have been arrested and it was not clear whether they would be charged and tried, she said. Violence among settlers also increased, with an average of five incidents per day compared to two per day last year.
With the suspension of permits for West Bank workers in Israel and settlements, and the disruption of trade with Israel, the lack of income transfers to the territory’s population is a “serious concern,” she said.