Humanitarian situation in Gaza 'extremely dire': UN

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A UN official voiced concern Wednesday about the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and urgedn Israel to open more crossing for aid delivery.

"The description of what's happening there, we're looking at the humanitarian situation which is extremely, extremely dire.

"And the human part of it is the most important part for us," Humanitarian Coordinator and interim for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, James McGoldrick, told the reporters virtually.

The UN and its partners on the ground are working to address the crisis, he said.

"So, for us, the most important factor is actually to try and address that at every means possible across the four key sectors of life saving ability of water, sanitation, health, food, and shelter," according to McGoldrick, who said it cannot be done alone.

"We have to do it with the Israeli authorities to give us the help the support and the permissiveness of opening up more crossing points, increasing the pipeline, getting into security," he said.

The UN is serving a population of 2.2 million through one crossing point, Kerem Shalom, said McGoldrick, adding that just one crossing is "not very efficient."

"We need as many crossings as we possibly can," he said.

Israel has pounded Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7, killing at least 25,700 Palestinians and injuring 63,740. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.