Average Palestinian in Gaza lives on 2 pieces of bread a day, says UN official

2023-11-04 08:38:01

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The average Palestinian in Gaza lives on two pieces of Arabic bread made with flour that the United Nations had stockpiled in the region, although what is heard most on the streets now is “water, water,” said the Friday the director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Strip.

Thomas White, who said he toured “the length and breadth of Gaza in recent weeks,” described the enclave as a “scene of death and destruction.” There is no safe place now, he added, and the population fears for their lives, their future and their ability to feed their families.

The UN refugee agency UNRWA maintains some 89 bakeries across the territory with the goal of distributing bread to 1.7 million people, White told diplomats from the 193-member agency. institution in a video meeting from Gaza.

“Now people are looking for something more than bread. “Now they are looking for water,” she stated.

Lynn Hastings, U.N. deputy Middle East coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational.

“Many people depend on brackish or saline groundwater, if they have it,” he explained.

During the briefing, the head of UN humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, noted that there are intense negotiations underway between authorities from Israel, Egypt, the United States and the institution itself to allow fuel to enter the enclave.

Fuel, he recalled, is essential for the operation of institutions and hospitals, as well as for the distribution of water and electricity. “We must allow those supplies to enter Gaza reliably, repeatedly and reliably,” he said.

Backup generators, which have been vital to maintaining hospitals, water desalination plants, food production facilities and other essential services, “are being shut down one by one as fuel supplies run out,” he noted. Hastings.

White pointed out other major problems.

The wastewater is not being treated and is instead being dumped directly into the sea, “but when you talk to municipal workers, the reality is that once the fuel runs out, that wastewater will flow through the streets,” he said. .

In addition, he added, the cooking gas that private companies brought to Gaza from Egypt before the war is increasingly scarce. Organizations like UNRWA “are not going to be able to step up and replicate the private sector distribution network for this essential item,” he acknowledged.

According to White, nearly 600,000 people are sheltered in 149 UNRWA centres, most of them schools, but contact has been lost with many in the north, where Israel is carrying out intensive ground and air operations following the deadly surprise attack by Hamas. on October 7.

An average of 4,000 displaced people live in schools without resources to maintain adequate sanitation, he added: “Conditions are desperate,” with women and children sleeping in classrooms while men sleep outdoors.

The UN cannot provide them security, White said, noting that more than 50 agency facilities have been affected by the conflict and five that received direct hits. “At last count, 38 people had died in our shelters. I fear that with the fighting taking place in the north right now, the number is going to increase significantly,” he noted.

For his part, Griffiths reported that 72 UNRWA staff have lost their lives since October 7, which he believed “is the highest number of UN workers killed in a conflict.”

The total number of victims reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which exceeds 9,000 people, is four times higher than that recorded in the 50-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2014, which claimed the lives of just over 2,200 Palestinians. Griffiths noted. The real figure will be known when the buildings are cleared and the debris removed, she added.

Griffiths called for humanitarian pauses in the bombing to get aid to millions of people, as well as the immediate release of all hostages captured by Hamas in its assault and the protection of civilians on both sides, as required by international humanitarian law.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire, and Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the institution, criticized Griffiths for talking regarding humanitarian pauses, something the United States also calls for.

This means that “Israel continues to murder Palestinians, but it gives us a few hours every now and then to get food and other things,” Mansour said.

The ceasefire is essential to save lives, the ambassador noted, adding that “almost 50% of all structures in the Gaza Strip” have been destroyed by Israel and the situation of the Palestinians “is beyond description and comprehension”.

“This requires all of us to do everything possible to stop it,” Mansour said.

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