UNRWA Warns of Spreading Hunger Crisis in Gaza

Children killed by Israeli bombings in Gaza, Oct. 3, 2024. X/ @DaniMayakovski

October 3, 2024 Hour: 6:45 am

In the last 24 hours, the Israeli occupation army killed 99 Palestinians and injured 169 people.

On Wednesday, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), warned that hunger is spreading in Gaza amid the continuous Israeli offensive.

“Over 1 million people in Gaza did not receive food rations in August, and by September, that number rose to over 1.4 million,” he said, adding that over 100,000 metric tons of food supplies have been cut off from Gaza “due to restrictions on access, insecurity, damaged roads, and the breakdown of law and order.”

The hunger in Gaza is “entirely man-made,” Lazzarini said. “Nearly 70 percent of crop fields have been destroyed. An entire population is forced to exclusively rely on humanitarian aid.”

As winter approaches and weather conditions deteriorate, the lack of sufficient humanitarian supplies will only generate more suffering, according to the commissioner-general. “What we urgently need is a ceasefire to end the suffering of people in Gaza and throughout the region,” he said.

BBC under fire for allowing Prof. Marandi to speak

"The UK supports this holocaust in Gaza… they will be with the Israelis until the very last Palestinian. Because we're all Amalek in this part of the world. We are inferior. They are the chosen people. They are your allies." pic.twitter.com/nFzRBPQpeh
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On Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported that over 41,788 people have been killed by the Israeli occupation army since October 2023. That figure does not include the thousands of bodies still buried under the rubble of buildings and residences bombed by Israel.

In the last 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 99 Palestinians and injured 169 people. The figures published today, much higher than what had been recorded in the territory in recent weeks, coincide with an intensification of Israeli attacks against the entire Strip.

The deadliest incident took place in the towns of Khan Yunis and Rafah, in the south, where a two-hour Israeli raid left at least 58 dead on Wednesday. This raid was supported by artillery fire, and several residential buildings were destroyed while people took refuge inside. Israel also attacked a UNRWA-run school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, leaving four people dead and 15 wounded.

So far on Thursday, at least seven people, including a minor, have been killed in two Israeli attacks, both targeting residences in Nuseirat, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.