The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned Wednesday that the people of Gaza were “running out of time and options” as Israel’s war against Hamas grinds on.
“They face bombardment, deprivation and disease in an ever shrinking space,” Philippe Lazzarini told the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, adding that Gazans were “facing the darkest chapter of their history since 1948, and it has been a painful history”.
The U.N. humanitarian office said on Wednesday that Gaza faced a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease amid an offensive by Israel that has hit hospitals and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
The United Nations and aid groups have sounded the alarm about the spread of infectious disease in Gaza, where the internal displacement of 85% of the population has caused overcrowding in shelters and other temporary living facilities.
Israel, which went to war in Gaza after the Palestinian enclave’s ruling Hamas militants launched a devastating attack on its southern communities on Oct. 7, has told civilians to flee battle zones and says it seeks avert humanitarian distress.
“We all know that the health care system is or has collapsed,” said Lynn Hastings, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“We’ve got a textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster.”
WHO has reported a sharp rise in acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, lice, scabies and other fast-spreading diseases.
Hastings said people in Gaza had to line up for hours just to access a toilet.
“You can imagine what the sanitation conditions are like,” she said.