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Manila Bulletin devider World devider Gaza witnessing 'unprecedented human catastrophe': UN agency

Gaza witnessing 'unprecedented human catastrophe': UN agency

Published Oct 16, 2023 12:06 am

JERUSALEM, Undefined - Israel's strikes on the Gaza Strip have led to an "unprecedented human catastrophe" in the Palestinian territory, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees said Sunday.

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Bulldozers shift the rubble of a home destroyed following an Israeli attack on the town of Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on October 15, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Thousands of Palestinians have gathered in the south of the Gaza Strip, laying out beds on the streets after UN-run schools filled up following Israel's warning to evacuate the north of the impoverished enclave. (Photo by MOHAMMED FAEQ / AFP)

"Not one drop of water, not one grain of wheat, not a litre of fuel has been allowed in the Gaza Strip for the last eight days," Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of UNRWA, told journalists.

"Raise the alarm that as of today, my UNRWA colleagues in Gaza are no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance as I speak," Lazzarini said.

"In fact, Gaza is being strangled and it seems the war right now has lost its humanity," he continued.
"If we look at the issue of water, we all know water is life and Gaza is running out of water and Gaza is running out of life."

Israel's Energy Minister Israel Katz earlier said water supply were resuming to southern Gaza after talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden.

"This will push the civilian population to the southern (part of the) Strip," Katz said in a statement, a week after Israel had stopped supplying water to the entire territory as part of a "complete siege" on the Palestinian enclave.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier said that Israel told him it had turned the water supply back on in southern Gaza.
The municipality of Beni Suheila in southern Gaza confirmed that the water supply had resumed to the village.

At least 2,670 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip in a blistering air assault launched by Israel last week after Hamas carried out a bloody attack on Israel that left more than 1,400 people dead.

An estimated one million people have been displaced in the first seven days of the conflict in Gaza, UNRWA said earlier on Sunday.

"The number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes," UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told AFP.

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