UNRWA: Hundreds of thousands of Gazans live in the street

Jerusalem (agencies)

Yesterday, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned of the bleak future that awaits the residents of the Gaza Strip after the end of the ongoing war. Philippe Lazzarini, who returned on Tuesday from his fourth visit to the Strip since the outbreak of the war on October 7, said that many residents are no longer able to anticipate “the future in the Gaza Strip.”
Lazzarini added to reporters in Jerusalem: “We have hundreds of thousands of people now living on the street, living in these temporary plastic tents, sleeping on the ground.” In the Gaza Strip, with a population of 2.4 million people, about 1.9 million were forced to leave their homes and be displaced as a result of bombing and military operations, according to the United Nations.
Lazzarini said that more than 60 percent of the buildings were damaged. The Israeli bombing affected large areas of the northern Gaza Strip, and pictures show large numbers of residential buildings that were reduced to rubble. Lazzarini said: “For us, there is a humanitarian catastrophe in the north.” He asked: “Do you encourage anyone to go to the north when we know that it is full of unexploded ordnance and rubble, and where there are no services?”
He added: “When we talk about the next day, it may not be the day when the fighting in the military operation stops. The residents of the Gaza Strip have realized that this will be far away.”
The war caused the suspension of the educational process in the Gaza Strip, as estimates indicate that half a million children between the ages of 6 and 14 are out of school.
Lazzarini said: “I fear that we now have an entire lost generation of children,” noting that the children live in “extremely cruel” conditions and suffer deep psychological trauma.
Lazzarini added: “This should make us all worry if we are talking about peace, security and coexistence in the future. The longer we wait, the greater the risk in the future.”
According to the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, “When we talk about rebuilding Gaza, the matter is no longer the same as it was before, when we had to rehabilitate some housing, and that was still possible.”