New York - Gaza: Europe and the Arabs
After her visit to the Gaza Strip, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that what she saw and heard was heartbreaking. She added that Gaza has no safe place for children, who number one million. According to what was stated in the United Nations daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received this Wednesday morning.
In a press statement following the visit that took place yesterday, Catherine Russell condemned the grave violations committed against children by parties to the conflict, which include killing, mutilation, kidnapping, attacks on schools and hospitals, and preventing humanitarian access.
She pointed out that more than 4,600 children were killed in Gaza, according to reports, and about 9,000 others were injured, with many missing, believed to be buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings and homes. She said that this was the tragic result of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
She said that newborn babies who needed specialized care had died in a Gaza hospital as electricity and medical supplies ran out, and violence continued with random effects.
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Russell met a number of patients and displaced families searching for shelter and safety.
“A 16-year-old girl told me from her hospital bed that her family’s home had been bombed,” she said. “She survived, but doctors say she will never be able to walk again.”
The UN official confirmed that the intermittent opening of Gaza border crossings to shipments of humanitarian supplies is insufficient to meet the tremendously increasing needs. She said the need for fuel may become more urgent as winter approaches.
The Executive Director of UNICEF called on all parties to ensure the protection and support of children, in accordance with international humanitarian law, to immediately cease fire on humanitarian grounds, to safely release all abducted and detained children, and to ensure that humanitarian agencies working in a safe, sustainable and unhindered access to all life-saving services and supplies to those in need. .
In the same context, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA said that the agency’s trucks were unable today, Tuesday, to receive the aid that entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt because they ran out of fuel.
Philippe Lazzarini added that the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, on which more than two million people depend, is gradually stopping because fuel has not been allowed to enter the Strip since October 7.
He said that the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had sounded the alarm three weeks ago about the fuel-related situation, warning that supplies were running out and the impact on life-saving operations.
He stated that the agency had rationed the use of fuel since that time, and used the limited quantities it had and stored in a warehouse inside the Gaza Strip in close coordination with the Israeli authorities.
The Commissioner General said that this warehouse is now empty. He added: "It is simple. Without fuel, the humanitarian operation in Gaza will stop, and a greater number of people will suffer and are likely to die."
He expressed his astonishment that humanitarian agencies had to beg for fuel, saying: “Since the beginning of the war, fuel has been used as a weapon of war and this must stop immediately.”
He appealed to all parties to save fuel now and stop using humanitarian assistance for political or military gain.