Burak Bir
22 February 2024•Update: 22 February 2024
LONDON
The UN refugee agency for Palestinians, UNRWA warned Thursday of the dire situation in the Gaza Strip and said food supplies are low and famine is on the horizon.
"In #Gaza one million children face daily traumas. With trickles of aid coming in, food is running low and famine is looming," UNRWA wrote on X.
It said one in six children is severely malnourished in the north and noted that children, along with pregnant and breastfeeding women, are "paying the highest price.”
The agency reiterated its demand for a "long overdue" cease-fire in the Strip.
"As military operations continue throughout #GazaStrip, no place is safe. Over 300 attacks have impacted 153 @UNRWA installations," said UNRWA, noting that basic infrastructure has been "decimated," while food production has come to a halt and hospitals "have turned into battlefields."
Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 29,000 victims and injured over 69,000 with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
