UN Does Not Have Enough Essential Supplies For Displaced People in Gaza: Griffiths
© AP Photo / Fatima Shbair
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - After the attack by Hamas on October 7, Israel launched retaliatory strikes and imposed a full blockade on the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the death toll of Palestinians has surpassed 8,000 as a consequence of the escalation.
There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, and the United Nations does not have enough vital supplies to assist internally displaced people, Humanitarian Affairs And Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said on Monday in a statement read to the Security Council by OCHA Director of Humanitarian Financing And Resource Mobilization Division Lisa Doughten.
"More than 1.4 million people are internally displaced in Gaza, and hundreds and thousands of children, women and men are crammed into overcrowded shelters and hospitals," the statement said. "Many of these people have moved south in search of safety. But the reality is that nowhere is safe and we simply do not have enough essential supplies to provide for the survival of internally displaced people at this scale."
The coordinator went on to say that the United Nations believes that there is a risk that the war between Israel and Hamas could escalate and spread into the wider region and urges all sides to agree to pause fighting.
"We have very real fears about what lies ahead. The current situation may pale in comparison with what is to come. There is a genuine risk that this war could escalate further and spillover into the wider region. We must take urgent collective action to prevent this," the statement said. "In light of all that has been described today, what we are calling for is for the parties to agree to pause the fighting on humanitarian grounds."
It was noted that the United Nations is gravely worried about the request by Israel to evacuate the hospitals in the Gaza Strip because transferring patients would be equal to the death sentence.
"We are deeply concerned by allegations of military installations in the close vicinity of hospitals and the request by Israeli authorities for hospitals, including Al Quds and Shifa, to be evacuated – there is nowhere safe for patients to go, and for those on life support and babies in incubators, moving would almost certainly be a death sentence," read the statement.
More than one entry point into the Gaza Strip is necessary if the United Nations is to make a difference amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the official added.
"And more than one entry point into Gaza is indispensable if we are to make a difference – Kerem Shalom, between Israel and Gaza, is the only crossing equipped to rapidly process a sufficiently large number of trucks," the statement said.
On October 7, Hamas launched a large-scale surprise rocket attack from Gaza into Israel, breaching the border and killing and abducting people in neighboring Israeli communities. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel. The blockade was later eased to allow trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The number of victims in the Gaza Strip, according to the Ministry of Health, exceeded 8,000 people with more than 18,000 injured. In Israel, according to local authorities, more than 1,400 people were killed.
