UN officials: Humanitarian situation in Gaza Strip catastrophic, the north suffers from famine

The UN Security Council yesterday evening discussed the catastrophic conditions and famine in Gaza Strip. The Council’s session was held at the request of Algeria following the report recently issued by a committee of international experts, which warned of an imminent and significant possibility of famine in northern Gaza, due to the Israeli siege and aggression on the Strip.

During the session, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ilze Brands Kehris described the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip as catastrophic, noting that the figures documented by the UN Human Rights Office indicate that about 70 percent of the martyrs in Gaza are women and children, while many victims are still under the rubble.

The UN official explained that more than 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced and have become homeless, many of whom have been displaced multiple times, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly and children, indicating that the Israeli raids on shelters and residential buildings lead to an unreasonable number of victims, which proves that there is no safe place in Gaza.

For his part,  Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience at the FAO, Rein Paulsen, drew attention to the dire food security situation in northern Gaza, noting that “the Famine Review Committee found a strong possibility of famine or imminent famine in areas within the northern Gaza Strip,” calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Paulsen said that agricultural food systems have collapsed, and that about 70 percent of agricultural land, which contributed about a third of daily consumption, has been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war last year, noting that the Food and Agriculture Organization is ready to intensify its efforts to respond to the famine and reduce its severity.

Hamda Mustafa