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'It's total anarchy': Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe continues despite truce
Since the truce agreement, humanitarian aid has been able to return more regularly. But "the volume of aid reaching the Palestinians in Gaza is still totally inadequate," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday, and the population is experiencing "a monumental humanitarian catastrophe."
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Gazans bake bread near their destroyed homes in Kuza'a, near the Israeli border, during the temporary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. AP - Hatem Ali
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Rami Al Meghari reports from Gaza, with our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sami Boukhelifa
It's 20 p.m., Aabir, a mother, has been queuing since 6 a.m. this morning to get something to eat. Tired, tonight she loses hope. "It's total anarchy. People step on each other's toes. And I'm the only one who can come and wait in line: my brother died in a bombing and left orphans," she explains. With the other members of the family, we share the tasks: some queue for flour, others for water. This war has robbed us completely. It's a humiliation.
»Insufficient volume
Nearly 80% of Gaza's population has been displaced by Israeli bombing. "The food system has collapsed, and hunger is spreading," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday. The truce agreement has accelerated the inflow of humanitarian aid, which had previously arrived in dribs and drabs. But the volume is still totally inadequate. "We believe we need a genuine humanitarian ceasefire," the UN chief pleaded: "The people of Gaza are living in the midst of a monumental humanitarian catastrophe, before the eyes of the world. We must not look the other way.
»Finding Gas
For the lucky ones who got a small bag of flour to bake bread, the challenge is to find gas to bake it. Mohaned is exhausted. "My family has five members. Since I have a large house, I have taken in displaced people. There are twenty-one of us," he says. I waited in line for 26 hours to get gas. I slept outside, here in the cold, and in the rain. I got sick. Faced with the scale of the needs, the convoys of humanitarian aid that enter Gaza daily are far from enough, sighs the father.
Read alsoRelease of young Palestinians: "My son should be in school, instead he was in prison"
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