Gaza residents between war and claustrophobic overcrowding

Several representatives of the United Nations describe in Gaza Strip, where the 105-day war with Israel continues, a situation of extreme need for the civilian population, with 1.9 million displaced, food shortages and sick children.

“Since my last visit, the situation has gone from catastrophic to the brink of collapse,” he said in a statement this Thursday. Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEFafter a three-day visit to the Palestinian enclave.

Chaiban said there are more than 1.9 million displaced people, almost equal to 85% of Gaza’s population, and said many are trying to find refuge in Rafah (the southern border area with Egypt), where countless plastic tents are crowded. improvised that can accommodate up to 20 people.

“It is difficult to understand the huge mass of civilians at the border and the inhumane conditions in which they live. “Water is scarce and poor sanitation is inevitable,” Chaiban said.

According to figures shared by the organization, in the past two months, diarrhea cases have increased by 40% compared to before the escalation of hostilities. But in mid-December there was a 4,000% increase, with 71,000 cases registered among children under five.

For its part, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) described how one of his schools in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah became a shelter for many displaced people.

“The overcrowding was claustrophobic and the filth surprising. I heard stories of women who preferred not to eat or drink water to avoid using unsanitary bathrooms“said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s chief commissioner, in a statement, who also condemned the “prolonged and repeated blackouts in telecommunications”.

The Gaza strip suffering this Thursday the seventh consecutive day of interruption of telephony and internetwhich according to the authorities in Gaza could increase the number of deaths, since the emergency medical service does not have the means to communicate and help the injured.

At least 16 Palestinians, mostly children and women, were killed tonight after an Israeli airstrike on a house in Rafah, south of the enclave, the Wafa agency reported, and an unknown number of dead and injured both in the north and in the central and southern parts of the Strip.

The total number of people killed due to the loss of communication networks is not known, but until yesterday, since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, there were 24,450 dead and more than 61,500 injured; 70% of them are children and women.