Thomas White, the director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, has bemoaned the dire situation in the Gaza.
He said in a post on X that “civil order is breaking down” in the besieged enclave.
“The streets feel wild, particularly after dark – some aid convoys are being looted and UN vehicles stoned. Society is on the brink of full-blown collapse.” Thomas White
Nonetheless, White stated that the UNRWA continues to serve the population with the limited aid it has.
Amid intense Israeli bombardments, Palestinians in Gaza are dealing with a severe food crisis as the lack of aid trucks has left many on the brink of starvation.
The World Health Organization reinforced this as its spokesperson, Christian Lindmeier, said, “People are starting to cut down telephone poles to have a little bit of firewood to keep warm or maybe cook, if they have anything available.”
Lindmeier added, “Civilisation is about to break down.”
According to the latest figures by the Health Ministry in Gaza, the number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 has now risen to 17,487.
An additional 46,480 people have been wounded, spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said.
Moreover, UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, stated, “We are reaching a point of no return in Gaza, where the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law scars our collective conscience.”
Lazzarini called for more funding, saying, “States must find the political will to end this tragedy.”
“Failing to act now and stop the carnage will forever stain our credibility as representatives of the international community, and fuel endless cycles of violence that will eventually engulf us all.”
Philippe Lazzarini
The UNRWA said that133 of its workers have been killed since 7 October, while “129 incidents impacting UNRWA premises have been reported since the beginning of the war, with some premises hit multiple times.”
It added that “34 UNRWA installations were directly hit and 57 installations sustained collateral damage. UNRWA has also received reports of the military use of its facilities on at least five occasions.”
The organisation stated that as many as 1.9 million people, which it said account for more than 85% of the strip’s population, have been displaced, many of them multiple times.
“As of 6 December, almost 1.2 miliion internally displaced persons (IDPs) were sheltering in 151 UNRWA installations across all five governorates of the Gaza Strip, including in the North and Gaza City. More than 1 million IDPs were sheltering in 94 facilities in the Middle, Khan Younis and Rafah areas.”
UNRWA
Palestinian Authority Not Solution To Post-War Governance In Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority is not the solution to post-war governance of Gaza.
This came in response to Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh’s earlier comments.
According to a news agency’s report, Shtayyeh said that the preferred outcome of the war would be for Hamas to become a junior partner under the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and help build an independent Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
However, Netanyahu wrote on X, “A. There will be no Hamas – we will eliminate it. B. The very fact that this is the Palestinian Authority’s proposal only strengthens my policy: the Palestinian Authority is not the solution.”
Meanwhile, Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, disclosed that a number of captives have been “killed and injured” as a result of Israeli air strikes.
In a statement, it said “barbaric strikes on parts of Gaza City” caused the deaths and injuries.
It did not provide more details.
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