UN Calls Northern Gaza ‘Hell on Earth’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said there have been some “issues” getting aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, likening the northern parts of the besieged enclave to hell.
At a briefing, the agency said the crossing had been designed for pedestrians, not trucks.
Only 65 trucks carrying food, medicine, hygiene supplies and water, and seven ambulances, crossed from Egypt into Gaza on Wednesday, it said, adding that none of that aid can reach northern Gaza.
“We cannot drive to the north at the current point, which is of course deeply frustrating because we know there are several hundred thousand people who remain in the north,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said, Al Jazeera reported.
“If there is a hell on Earth today, its name is northern Gaza,” he said. “It is a life of fear by day and darkness at night and what do you tell your children in such a situation, it’s almost unimaginable —that the fire they see in the sky is out to kill them?” he said.
In separate comments, the head of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) called for an end to the “carnage” afflicting war-torn Gaza.
“The present course chosen by the Israeli authorities will not bring the peace and stability that both Israelis and Palestinians want and deserve,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a media opinion piece.
“The carnage simply must stop,” he underlined.
At least 10,812 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
Israeli tanks have surrounded several hospital in Gaza, health officials say, after several hospitals are among the civilian infrastructure targeted in another night of heavy bombardment.
The Israeli attacks have damaged more than 50 percent of housing units across Gaza, according to officials.
