UN: North Gaza Faces Catastrophic Humanitarian Crisis
APP
United Nations: The UN’s top humanitarian official grimly warned Saturday that the entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying, calling for an immediate stop to “blatant disregard for basic humanity” by Israeli forces.
“What Israeli forces are doing in besieged north Gaza cannot be allowed to continue,” said Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement posted on the social media platform X.
Hospitals have been hit, health workers detained and first responders prevented from rescuing people trapped under the rubble, she noted.
“Shelters have been emptied and burned down…families have been separated, and men and boys taken away by the truckload,” Ms. Msuya added.
Reacting to the top UN official’s stern warning, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Muslim advocacy group, demanded that the Biden administration take concrete actions to stop Israeli’s genocide in Gaza.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: “The Biden administration must listen to those who actually care about the systematic extermination of an entire population using American taxpayer-funded weapons and with the unceasing and uncritical support of administration officials who do not seem to care about the far-right Israeli government’s violations of U.S. and international law.
“This administration’s support for and complicity with genocide must end and the Palestinian people must be acknowledged as human beings worthy of life and dignity.”
According to reports, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israeli security forces renewed their offensive in northern Gaza earlier this month. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced again.
In her statement, Ms. Msuya, the top UN official, warned, “The entire population of north Gaza is at risk of dying.”
“Such blatant disregard for basic humanity and for the laws of war must stop.”
The head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) also voiced deep concern over the situation, highlighting the severe impact on healthcare.
In a post on X, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation as “catastrophic”.
“Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care,” he said.
He also noted that the Gazan health ministry informed WHO that the siege at Kamal Adwan Hospital – one of the last minimally functioning hospitals in the north – has ended, “but it came at a heavy cost.”
Following the detention of 44 male staff members, only female staff, the hospital director and one male doctor are left to care for nearly 200 patients in desperate need of medical attention.
Reports that hospital facilities and medical supplies were damaged or destroyed during the siege are deplorable, Tedros said.
“The whole health system in Gaza has been under attack for over a year. WHO cannot stress loudly enough that hospitals must be shielded from conflict at all times. Any attack of healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law”, he added.
He added that the only path to safeguard “what remains of Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system” is through an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
