ReutersA UN official in Gaza has warned that the rebuilding process in the devastated Palestinian territories “will take a lot of time” despite a promised increase in humanitarian aid deliveries.
Sam Rose, acting director of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, said, “We are not just talking about food, health care, buildings, roads and infrastructure. We have individuals, families and communities that need to rebuild.” Gaza, according to the BBC.
After the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas entered into force on Sunday, The United Nations said that at least 1,545 aid trucks crossed into Gaza.
The trucks brought much-needed food, tents, blankets, mattresses and clothing for the winter, which had been stranded outside Gaza for months.
The ceasefire agreement reportedly requires that 600 aid trucks, including 50 trucks loaded with fuel, be allowed into Gaza daily during the first six-week phase, during which Hamas must release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
He added: “We expect a significant increase in the volume of incoming aid, and of course it is easier for us to go and collect that aid because many of the problems we have faced so far in the war disappear when the fighting ends.” Stop,” said Mr. Rose.
He added: “We are no longer moving in an active conflict zone. We no longer need to coordinate all these movements with the Israeli authorities.” “Today we have not faced any major problems in terms of looting and crime.”
But he also stressed that “we must move away from thinking about the needs of people in Gaza as a function of the amount of aid.”
He added: “Everyone in Gaza has been traumatized by what happened. Everyone has lost something. Most of these homes are now destroyed, and most of the roads are now destroyed.” “It will be a very long rehabilitation and rebuilding process.”
Meanwhile, WHO Regional Director Hanan Balkhi said the organization has a 60-day plan to recharge Gaza's health system to meet the population's urgent needs and prioritize care for thousands of people suffering from life-changing injuries.
The plan includes repairing Gaza's hospitals – half of which are out of service and the other half are partially functioning – and establishing temporary clinics in the most affected areas, treating malnutrition and controlling disease outbreaks.
ReutersTom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian coordinator, warned on Sunday night that the humanitarian needs of Palestinians in Gaza were “staggering.”
UN officials have previously blamed the humanitarian crisis on Israeli military restrictions on aid deliveries, hostilities and a breakdown in law and order.
Israel insists there are no limits to the amount of aid that can be delivered into and through Gaza and blames UN agencies for their failure to distribute supplies. It also accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the movement denies.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Israel says 91 of the hostages are still in captivity.
More than 47,000 people have been killed and 111,000 injured in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Strip.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times, and it is estimated that 60% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter. .
In October, the UN-backed Integrated Phase Classification of Food Security (IPC) estimated that 1.84 million people across Gaza were suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, and 133,000 people were facing catastrophic levels, which could lead to famine And death.
The following month, the IPC warned that there was a strong possibility that famine was “imminent” in some areas of northern Gaza.
Before the ceasefire, the United Nations said that the besieged towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the north of the country had been largely cut off from food aid since the Israeli army launched a ground offensive in October with the declared aim of preventing the return of Hamas.
A Palestinian woman who returned Monday to her destroyed home in the northern Gaza Strip after the ceasefire took effect, expressed her shock at what she found after the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.
Manal Abu Al-Daraham told the Gaza Today program on the BBC Arabic channel: “The entire place seemed as if it had been hit by an earthquake due to the intensity of the aggression.”
“I will pitch my tent in the north no matter what the cost… and I do not want to be displaced from my land again.”
Rose said that UNRWA teams in southern Gaza, where they are stationed, have not yet been able to cross into northern Gaza because the Israeli army has not yet opened the roads through the east-west Netzarim corridor.
But he said that UNRWA, as the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza, had the networks and people on the ground who could help if given access.
However, UNRWA faces an imminent Israeli embargo that may make it impossible to operate in Gaza.
Two laws passed by the Israeli parliament, which are scheduled to enter into force next week, prevent the agency from operating within Israeli territory and prevent Israeli state agencies from communicating with it.
Israel accused UNRWA of colluding with Hamas and said that 18 of its employees participated in the October 7 attack. The agency fired nine employees who a UN investigation found may have been involved, and insisted it remained neutral.
The United Nations said that UNRWA could not be replaced in Gaza, while the agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, announced that thousands of its Palestinian employees in Gaza “will remain and be delivered” if the Israeli government implements the two laws, although this “will come at the expense” of risks. Big personality” on them.
