Gaza has reached a point where civilization is 'about to break down': WHO

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday warned that Gaza has reached a point where civilization is "about to break down."

WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said in a UN press briefing in Geneva that his colleagues in the field told him some "horrific scenarios" in which people were "actually begging and crying for water."

Lindmeier noted that people receive up to only two liters of fresh water daily but this is not only used for drinking.

"We're at that level where the most normal and basic supplies are not available anymore," he stressed. "So, we're at that level where really the civilization is about to break down, the society is about to break down."

He also said that the convoys belonging to the WHO have been stopped on the road by the people as they are desperate in search of more food and water.

They are in a situation "where the population is being forced into a horrible scenario that all civil society breaks down," he added.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time since he assumed the organization's top post in 2017 for the establishment of a cease-fire, saying the current conditions are making it impossible for "meaningful humanitarian operations" to be conducted.

Israel resumed its military offensive against the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group, Hamas.

At least 17,177 Palestinians have been killed and more than 46,000 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.