The United Nations agency specialized in Palestinian refugees warned today that there are more than two million people in the Gaza Strip who are running out of drinking water due to Israel’s blockage of the entry of humanitarian aid to the enclave.
“Across the Gaza Strip, more than 2 million people are at risk of being left without water,” said the commissioner general of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini.
“It has become a matter of life and death. It is a necessity; fuel has to be delivered now to Gaza so that water is available for 2 million people,” the manager added.
For a week now, Israel has not allowed the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza, in what is its response to the attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against soldiers and civilians in Israeli territory last Saturday.
“Clean water is running out in the Gaza Strip, after its water plant and public water networks stopped working. The population is forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing the risk of transmitted diseases for water,” the UN said in the statement.
Likewise, since October 11, the enclave has suffered an electrical blackout, so the water generators cannot function for supply.
This situation even affected the UN’s own base in the southern Gaza Strip, where thousands of people moved in search of refuge after Israel issued a warning to residents demanding they leave their homes in areas of the Gaza Strip. north of the Strip.
“We need to transport fuel to Gaza now. Fuel is the only way for people to have clean water. If not, people will start dying from severe dehydration, including small children, the elderly and women. Water is now the last lifeline that remains. I call for the siege on humanitarian aid to be lifted now,” Lazzarini added.
For his part, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced today the arrival in Egypt of a medical shipment from the UN agency to meet the needs of the population of the Gaza Strip. .
The plane carrying him landed in the town of El Arish, near the Rafa border crossing, the only one that connects the Gaza Strip with Egyptian territory.
That passage is blocked after being attacked by the Israeli Army, which is why the WHO demanded that humanitarian aid be allowed to pass through.
The head of the UN health agency also took the opportunity to insist that Israel “reconsider” its evacuation order for the population of northern Gaza, approximately 1.1 million people, in what he called a “human tragedy.” reported the Europa Press news agency.
This ultimatum from Israel, which initially expired yesterday, but was extended today with the announcement of the opening of two exit corridors to the south of the enclave until 10 Argentine time, was rejected by the United Nations and several international NGOs that consider it like forced displacement.
Israel claims, for its part, that this is a measure for the protection of civilians, since in its view this population is used as a human shield by the Palestinian Hamas militias, who are also hindering the evacuation process.
Source: Ambito
