New York: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) revealed Monday that the Israeli occupation is besieging about half a million Palestinians in Gaza City, within an area of no more than eight square kilometers.
UNRWA Spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna, said in press statements: "In Gaza City, about half a million Palestinians are still besieged in an area of no more than eight square kilometers."
Regarding the areas in the southern Gaza Strip to which the Israeli occupation authorities are threatening Palestinians with displacement, Abu Hasna added: "About 70,000 people will be crowded into every square kilometer, with no room to erect a single tent, leaving tens of thousands of families homeless in the streets."
He noted that famine has spread with the displaced from Gaza City to the central and southern Gaza Strip, stressing the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and allowing the entry of humanitarian aid.
On August 22, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, supported by specialized UN agencies, announced in an official report that famine had occurred in the Gaza Strip after rates of hunger and acute malnutrition exceeded international standards for Phase 5 of the classification, in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression and the blockade imposed on the Strip.
The UN report indicated that the crisis is likely to worsen, with the famine expected to extend to Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis by the end of September.
It warned that the population of the Gaza Strip is facing one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times, while restrictions on the entry of food and medicine continue to prevent the population from meeting its urgent needs.
