Food and water are quickly running out, it is a dire situation in Gaza Strip, the UN said amid a total blockade of the territory by Israel and reports that Israeli military is preparing for a "next stage" of the war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) Palestine country director Samer Abdeljaber said they are seeing a shortage of fuel, water and electricity in Gaza Strip. "...our shelters are overcrowded. We don't have capacity," The Guardian quoted him as saying.
Tomorrow is going to be a very difficult situation for the people in the shelters and people outside the shelters as the bakeries would not be able to provide food tomorrow, he said.
"We are providing food to thousands of people that have sought shelter in schools and elsewhere across the territory. But we are going to run out very soon," Reuters quoted deputy head of emergencies at WFP Brian Lander as saying.
He requested Egypt and Israel to create a secure corridor to help the UN provide humanitarian aid in the area and observed that a number of sites that are considered humanitarian, clinics and schools, have been hit by air strikes.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) too echoed similar sentiments and called for a safe passage to help the affected with aid and medicine.
ICRC warned that fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals may run out within hours. "Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues," ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni said, reported Reuters. "The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians."
The stinging remarks from Red Cross come even as Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said no exceptions would be made in the siege unless Israeli hostages. "No electrical switch will be lifted, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And nobody should preach us morals," he had tweeted.
An unprecedented attack against Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli retaliation has left more than 2,600 people dead in Israel and Gaza.
