Relentless Israeli attacks on infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and freezing temperatures have rendered the Palestinian enclave “completely uninhabitable,” the United Nations Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) has warned.
“We are concerned that more civilians will die,” Ajit Sungay, head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said on Friday.
“Continued attacks on specially protected facilities such as hospitals will result in civilian deaths and further impact access to health care, safety and security for the Palestinian population as a whole.”
Mr Sungei said his office was also “very concerned about the impact of the rain and cold”, which he said was “completely predictable” for this time of year.
He said the weather “risks turning already unsanitary conditions into completely uninhabitable for people.” Most people do not have warm clothes or blankets. ”
Most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been internally displaced by Israeli attacks, many crammed into overcrowded shelters and suffering from worsening weather, disease and severe shortages of food, water and medicine. threatened.
Sungei said it would be “disastrous” if the shelling and street fighting in Khan Younis moved further south to Rafah. Around 1.3 million people are currently gathered in Rafah, a town bordering Egypt, trying to escape Israeli attacks. Raid.
Meanwhile, Georgios Petropoulos, head of the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Office in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip are at risk of starvation after months of war.
“Everyone in Gaza needs support now. The war must stop,” he said.