lChildren in Gaza are dying “of malnutrition and dehydration, while food and drinking water wait in trucks” without being able to access the Palestinian territory, the head of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini.
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“The catastrophic levels of hunger throughout the Gaza Strip are the result of human action,” he said in the first face-to-face meeting held by the organization’s Advisory Commission since the war in Gaza began on October 7.
As other humanitarian entities have denounced, the official maintained that the breakdown of civil order “has given rise to rampant looting and smuggling that prevents the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid,” while “Gazatians cling to the life”.
In the two-day meeting, which began this Monday at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Lazzarini asked not to forget that another tragedy is being experienced in West Bank, where half a thousand Palestinians have died in the same period.
“The daily attacks by Israeli settlers, military incursions and the destruction of homes and critical infrastructure are part of a well-established system of segregation and oppression,” he denounced.
He also referred to the intensification of clashes on the border between Israel and Lebanon, where there is a risk of “total war.”
A plume of smoke rises during Israeli shelling in the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel, on June 23, 2024, amid cross-border tensions.
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UNRWA, in danger due to lack of resources and financing
Considered the central pillar of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, as well as among the millions of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, UNRWA is in a very delicate financial situation, despite the fact that its main donors have resumed his contributions.
These were cut for some time by the Israeli accusations that the body was somehow complicit with Hamas, which was denied by impartial investigations carried out from outside UNRWA.
UNRWA is estimated to require $1.2 billion to continue meeting the vital humanitarian needs of civilian victims of this war until the end of the year. Of that amount, it currently only has 18%
However, Lazzarini maintained that the organization suffers from an acute lack of resources to fulfill its mission and that its ability to operate beyond next August “will depend on the States to disburse the planned funds and further finance their central budget.”
UNRWA is estimated to require $1.2 billion to continue meeting the vital humanitarian needs of civilian victims of this war until the end of the year. Of that amount, it currently only has 18%.
Its operations in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have received just 20% of what they need.
Children line up to receive food at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school.
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21,000 children missing in the Gaza Strip
In addition, some 21,000 children are missing in the Gaza Strip, many of them trapped under rubble, presumed dead, or in unidentified mass graves, according to a report published this Monday by the organization Save the Children.
“It is almost impossible to collect and verify information under the current conditions in Gaza,” says the children’s aid organization, which estimates that some 17,000 children are currently alone, orphaned or separated from their parents, in the face of constant forced displacement.
More than 15,800 children have died since the war began in October, around thirty minors have died of hunger and 3,500 are at risk of death from malnutrition.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, more than 15,800 children have died since the war began in October, around thirty minors have died of hunger and 3,500 are at risk of death from malnutrition.
In total, more than 37,600 people have died in the enclave, 70% of them women and children. according to Gaza Health.
Save the Children claims that more than 14,000 children have died in the Gaza Strip since October; Some 4,000 are missing under the rubble, and a number to be determined, in mass graves.
“Thousands of missing Palestinian children are trapped under rubble, buried in unmarked graves, damaged beyond recognition by explosives, detained by Israeli forces or lost in the chaos of the conflict,” the organization notes.
“Every day we find more unaccompanied children and every day it is more difficult to help them. We identify separated and unaccompanied children and try to locate their families, but there are no safe facilities for them; there is no safe place in Gaza,” they add.
A group of people make their way through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombings.
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Save the Children also recalls that at least 33 children were killed in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 were kidnapped.
The organization indicated that In the occupied West Bank, some 250 Palestinian children are also missing, many of them in illegal detention.
“Families are tortured by uncertainty about the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try to find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. “No child should be detained or taken hostage,” said Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Middle East director.
Stoner has called for an independent investigation into the situation of missing children in Gaza and for those responsible to be held accountable.
According to UN data, Israel has launched 75,000 tons of explosives – the equivalent of six nuclear bombs – which, in addition to having destroyed 65% of the structures in the Strip, leaves minors in a very vulnerable situation because They are seven times more likely to die in an explosion.
A Palestinian boy sits in the rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
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