UN refugee agency says Gaza shelters ‘massively overcrowded' amid Israeli attacks

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) – The UN Palestinian refugee agency said Sunday that its shelters in the Gaza Strip are “massively overcrowded.”

“Our own shelters in the area are massively overcrowded, we cannot take more people anymore,” Juliette Touma, communications director of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told ABC News.

''Gaza doesn’t have civilian infrastructure to support such a huge influx of displaced people, many now sleeping on streets,'' she added.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 22,835 Palestinians have since been killed and 58,416 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.

Numerous international legal experts have said Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute war crimes or genocide, and countries such as Türkiye and South Africa are working to bring legal cases to that effect in international courts.​​​​​​​