Gaza faces ‘alarming’ humanitarian situation-UN
UNITED NATIONS: Gaza’s 1.5 million residents are facing an
“alarming” humanitarian situation under constant Israelibombardment,
with the main power plant shut down, overcrowded hospitals struggling to
cope and very limited food supplies, UN officials said Wednesday.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the power plant shut down
Tuesday because Israel has blocked fuel delivery through the main
pipeline since Dec. 26. This has forced hospitals to use generators,
which have limited fuel supplies, and left many of the 650,000 people in
central and northern Gaza with power cuts of 16 hours a day or more, he
said. “On the humanitarian side,” Holmes said, “the situation remains
alarming.”.”Hospitals are obviously still struggling very much to cope
with the number of casualties. We have continued to get some medical
supplies in and to help them cope, but this remains difficult and
fragile,” he told reporters at U.N. headquarters.
Karen Abu Zayd, commissioner of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency
which helps Palestinian refugees, told reporters by video link from Gaza
that the agency, known as UNRWA, has not distributed any food for two
weeks because of the shortage of supplies and the Israeli bombardment.
“I think that means that 20,000 people a day have been without food
that they expect - and probably is the bulk of what they get. ... It’s
not just the flour, but it’s the protein source, either lentils or
tinned meat and the sugar and milk powder and oil,” she said.
“So people are doing pretty badly. Everyone we know is sharing
whatever they have, not just with their families but with their
neighbors,” Abu Zayd said. “People are not eating what they used to.
That’s simply what’s happening.”
“We haven’t seen widespread hunger. We do see for the very first time
- I’ve been here for eight years- ... people going through the rubbish
dumps looking for things, people begging which is quite a new phenomenon
as well,” she said. Holmes said the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel
continues to be open, with 55 trucks of food and medical supplies and
five ambulances getting into Gaza on Tuesday, and about 60 trucks on
Wednesday. That compares to 125 truckloads a day in October 2008 and 475
truckloads a day in May 2007, just before Hamas took control of Gaza, he
said. Some medical supplies, ambulances and generators also got into
Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, he said.
A spokesman for President George W. Bush, Gordon Johndroe, told
reporters in Texas that American officials are seeing “a good flow” of
medical and food supplies into Gaza.
Abu Zayd stressed, however, that UNRWA needs 100 trucks of flour a
day to meet the needs of refugees. But she said Israel has closed down
the Karni crossing, the main gateway for cargo into Gaza where it is
normally delivered, for security reasons.
She said UNRWA was told by the Israeli humanitarian coordinator that
all other crossings aren’t open because “there is intelligence about
serious preparations for security operations.”
“We wonder if it’s serious enough to really keep things completely
closed and to keep people on their edge of subsistence,” she said.
Holmes said “the major needs, apart from medical supplies, remain ...
grain and wheat flour and fuel - also cash would be very helpful to
enable people to buy supplies.” He said the Israelis have been
“cooperative in principle about these supplies but we need to see more
results.” Abu Zayd said. Monday, AP
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Gaza death toll reaches 400, 2000 wounded
Palestine: The death toll from Israel’s massive bombing of Hamas
targets in Gaza has reached 400, medics said on Thursday on the sixth
day of the devastating campaign.
Nearly 2,000 people have been wounded as a result of the raids,
Moawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services, told AFP.
Israel on Saturday unleashed the strikes — one of Israel’s
deadliest-ever offensives against Gaza — in response to ongoing rocket
fire from the territory that Islamist Hamas has controlled since June
2007.
GAZA CITY, Thursday (AFP) |