Hunger has spread all across the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the enclave, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday.
“Hunger is everywhere in Gaza,” UNRWA said in a statement.
The UN agency said humanitarian conditions are tragic in the Palestinian Strip as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is set to start on Monday.
“The situation in the north is tragic, where aid via land is denied despite repeated calls,” it said. “Ramadan is approaching. The death toll continues to rise.
“Humanitarian access across the Gaza Strip and an immediate ceasefire are imperative to save lives,” UNRWA said.
‘Respond to Urgent Needs’ – Canada to Resume Funding for UNRWA
Resuming Funding
Canada and Sweden announced in recent days that they are resuming support to UNRWA after a decision to pause funding because of Israeli allegations.
Several countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Canada, suspended funding to the agency that was established in 1949 to cater to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
The decision to suspend funding came after Israel claimed that 12 UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 military operation carried out by the Palestinian Resistance in southern Israel.
UNRWA said in a report that some employees – released into Gaza after being held by Israel – reported having been forced by Israeli authorities into false confessions regarding their role in the October 7 military operation.
The report, which was reviewed by the Reuters news agency, is dated February 2024.
‘Abuse, Ill-Treatment’ – UNRWA Says Israel Forced Its Employees into False Confessions
Gaza Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,045 Palestinians have been killed, and 72,654 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(PC, Anadolu)
This is a larger ‘mass exodus’ than the Nakba, 2 million now, 750,000 then.