UNITED NATIONS — The UN humanitarian chief on Friday described Gaza as “uninhabitable” three months after Israel's war with Hamas, warning that famine and a public health disaster are looming.
In a stark assessment of the devastating impact of Israel's military response to the horrific Hamas attacks on October 7, Martin Griffiths said Gaza's 2.3 million residents face “daily threats to their survival” while the world only watches.
He said tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures drop, and areas where Palestinians were forced to move have been bombed.
“People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is imminent,” Griffiths said. The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and severely short of supplies, medical facilities are under ruthless attack, infectious diseases are spreading, and amid the chaos, some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day.
“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable,” said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
He said the humanitarian community faces an “impossible mission” of trying to help more than two million people while UN personnel and aid workers from partner agencies are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shelled and vital commercial activities continue. . inventories 'are virtually non-existent'.
Griffiths reiterated UN demands for an immediate end to the war and the release of all hostages, stating that “it is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen.”
The Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, which controls Gaza, killed about 1,200 people, and its fighters and other militants took about 250 people hostage. More than 120 remain in captivity.
The Israeli air, ground and naval strike in Gaza, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed more than 22,400 people in the Hamas-ruled area, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. The count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The three-month conflict has displaced around 85% of Gaza residents, and the United Nations has so far identified more than 37,000 buildings destroyed or damaged during the war.
The UN children's agency UNICEF said on Friday that most young children and pregnant women are not getting enough nutrition. Fewer than 200 aid trucks enter Gaza every day – less than half pre-war levels – and distribution has been hampered by the fighting.
A UNICEF study found that 90% of children under the age of two eat two or fewer of the five essential food groups every day, mainly bread or milk. A quarter of pregnant women report eating only one food group per day.
UNICEF says the number of cases of diarrhea among children under five has risen from 48,000 to 71,000 – an indication of poor nutrition. Normally, only 2,000 cases of diarrhea are reported in the Gaza Strip every month.
Israel cut off the supply of food, clean water, medicine, electricity and fuel to Gaza immediately after the Hamas attack. In response to U.S. pressure, the country sent a trickle of aid through Egypt in late October, and the number of trucks has increased from about 100 to as many as 200 per day.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly said there is sufficient food in the area and that they have taken the necessary steps to facilitate aid, blaming any shortages on UN bodies.
But UN spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay reiterated Friday that “the current response is only meeting a fraction of people's needs.”
She reiterated what the UN Secretary General said last month: “It is a mistake to quote the effectiveness of the humanitarian operation in Gaza based solely on the number of trucks. Security is necessary for an effective relief operation in Gaza. Personnel are needed who can work safely. It requires good logistics capacity and the resumption of commercial activities.”
Tremblay said that until these demands are met, Gazans will not receive enough aid.
Still, the U.N. World Food Program reported reaching 975,000 vulnerable people in Gaza and the West Bank with food in December, she said.
In an indication of the difficulties in obtaining aid in Gaza, some international efforts are resorting to dropping supplies from planes. France announced Friday that French and Jordanian C-130 aircraft dropped a total of seven tons of medical aid overnight on the Jordanian field hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis during a joint operation.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains critical,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. “In a difficult context, France and Jordan have provided assistance to the population and to those who help them.”
The airborne landing, a first from a Western country in the Gaza Strip, was agreed during Macron's recent visit to Jordan, where he met King Abdullah II last month, the French presidency said.
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Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report from Paris