The situation in the Gaza Strip is worsening by the hour. The UN warned on Sunday of the collapse of "law and order" in the territory after looting of its centres, as the Israeli army intensifies its bombing and ground operations in the Palestinian territory where humanitarian aid is trickling in.
"Thousands of people entered (Saturday) several UNRWA warehouses and distribution centres in the centre and south" of the territory, the UN agency said in a statement on Sunday. "This is a worrying sign that law and order is beginning to crumble after three weeks of war and a strict siege on Gaza," said UNRWA's director of operations in Gaza, Thomas White. "People are scared, frustrated and desperate."
Stocks of rations are running low
As the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, already catastrophic according to NGOs, continues to deteriorate, an AFP journalist on Saturday saw dozens of Palestinians looting one of UNRWA's distribution centres in the central city of Deir el-Balah. Displaced people who had fled their homes in the north of the territory were coming out of these centres, one carrying a sack of flour on his shoulder, another bottles of oil under his arm, or bags of lentils or sugar.
Food rations are normally distributed to the neediest among the refugees, those Palestinians who were forced off their land when the state of Israel was established in 1948 and who now together with their descendants make up about 80 percent of the 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, according to UNRWA figures.
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"Supplies in the market are running out while humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip by trucks from Egypt is inadequate. The needs of the population are enormous, if only for basic means of survival, while the aid we receive is meagre and inconsistent," added Thomas White. He said only "a little more than 80 trucks" of aid had arrived in Gaza through the Rafah crossing since the delivery of humanitarian aid began on 21 October.
"The current convoy system is doomed to failure. Very few trucks, slow processes, strict inspections, supplies that do not match the needs of UNRWA and other aid organizations, and most importantly the continued ban on fuel, all this is a recipe for a bankrupt system," he warned.
'Long and difficult' war, warns Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday spoke of a "second stage" in the conflict against the Islamist movement Hamas and said he expected a "long and difficult" war in Gaza, where the ICRC denounced a "catastrophic (humanitarian) failure". The Israeli army, which has been operating on the ground since Friday night with soldiers and armored vehicles, announced on Sunday its intention to increase the number of its troops and the extent of its operations in the Palestinian territory.
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In addition to this military offensive, a "total siege" has been imposed on Gaza since 9 October. Water, electricity and food supplies have been cut off, while the territory of 2.4 million inhabitants has already been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Only 84 trucks of humanitarian aid have been able to arrive via Egypt since 21 October.
"The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe"
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday expressed alarm at an "increasingly desperate" situation in the Gaza Strip. "I regret that instead of a much-needed humanitarian pause, supported by the international community, Israel has intensified its military operations," he said during a visit to Nepal after a four-day trip to Qatar. Ten Nepalese have died in the war between Israel and Hamas, with an eleventh missing.
Guterres called the number of civilians killed and injured in the war between Israel and Hamas "totally unacceptable." Reiterating his call for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip, the UN chief called for "the delivery of sustained humanitarian assistance on a scale that meets the needs of the population" of the Palestinian territory.
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"The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes," Guterres said in Kathmandu. "More than two million people, with nowhere to go safely, are deprived of the essentials of life – food, water, shelter and medical care – while they are subjected to relentless bombardment," the UN Secretary-General added.
More than 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side since then, mostly civilians, during the October 7 attack that also saw the Islamist movement take 230 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, claims that more than 8,000 Palestinians — a number we cannot confirm — mostly civilians, have been killed in relentless Israeli bombardment since the conflict began.