Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA

Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.

Briefing reporters in Geneva from central Gaza, UNRWA senior emergency officer Louise Wateridge warned that amid looming famine in the Gaza Strip, as winter approaches, those forcibly displaced are sleeping on the floor in makeshift shelters surrounded by sewage.

“We are extremely concerned when the rains come to the Gaza Strip, what will happen to 500,000 people who are in areas of flooding?” she said.

Ms. Wateridge stressed that the volume of aid currently entering the war-torn enclave is “the lowest in months”, with an average in October of only 37 trucks per day for the entire 2.2 million population.

According to UNRWA, this represents about six per cent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies allowed in before the war.

Asked about a Tuesday deadline set last month by the United States for Israel to improve the aid situation in the enclave, the UNRWA official said that instead, “aid supplies have lessened”.

The UN continues to be denied access to northern Gaza, she said, where people are “begging for pieces of bread, for water”. Ms. Wateridge added that 1.7 million people in the enclave, or some 80 per cent of the population, did not receive their food rations in October.

Last Friday, food security experts from the UN-partnered Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee issued an alert over imminent famine in areas within the northern Gaza Strip.

As suffering continues to worsen, “people are losing hope”, Ms. Wateridge said.

Just this week, two missions to northern Gaza which she was to take part in were denied; the aim had been to deliver chlorine tablets and assess the facilities of those sheltering.

“No one from UNRWA has been able to access the besieged north in over a month,” she said.

The UNRWA official spoke of “pleas and testimonies” from UN colleagues and from doctors in the hospitals in the north, which have been bombed. “The doctors inform us that they have run out of blood supplies. They have run out of medicine… There are bodies in the streets,” she said, adding that ambulances have “stopped functioning” and that people can only get to hospital by themselves, on donkey carts.

“Colleagues are trapped in residential buildings,” unable to leave, Ms. Wateridge said, while the eight UNRWA-run water wells in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya have all ceased operations, leaving people without clean water.

The UNRWA senior emergency officer reiterated the agency’s call to the Israeli authorities for access to the besieged areas, which is becoming “more and more critical each hour now”.

Late last month, the Israeli Parliament voted to ban UNRWA from operating in the country and prohibit officials from having any contact with the agency. The laws are set to come into force 90 days from their adoption.

Asked about any message that UNRWA may have for Hamas, Ms. Wateridge said: “Our call for Hamas as well as the Israeli forces is a ceasefire.” She underscored that the Palestinian militant group initiated “horrific attacks against Israeli civilians on 7 October”, adding that it was unacceptable that the war continued and civilians suffered.

“We have seen horrific suffering of Israeli civilians, the 7 October attacks, followed by horrific suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip. There needs to be a ceasefire, a release and return of the hostages home and finally some respite to all the civilians, not just in the Gaza Strip, but the surrounding region,” she concluded.

-ends-

STORY: Northern Gaza update - UNRWA

TRT: 4:32”

SOURCE: UNTV CH footage from Geneva, UNRWA footage from Gaza

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 12 NOVEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND + UNRWA footage filmed 10 November 2024 in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza and 3 November 2024 in Gaza City, Gaza.

1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.

2. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “The aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months. The average for October was 37 trucks a day into the entire Gaza Strip. And I can tell you, that's for 2.2 million people.”

3. Wide lateral shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

4. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “There's a looming famine. We have winter approaching. You might be able to see behind me, the shelters that people have are completely insufficient. People here are really sheltering under any kind of fabric they can find. This is curtains, blankets, sheets. Nothing is waterproof. People are sleeping on the floor. Sewage all around the shelters. And we are extremely, extremely concerned when the rains come to the Gaza Strip. What will happen to 500,000 people who are in areas of flooding?”

5. Wide lateral shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

6. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “We receive testimonies from people on the ground asking, begging for pieces of bread, for water. The United Nations remains denied access to this area. We have had very limited access to the besieged areas of the north over the last month. It's been over a month now. And, you know, across the entire Gaza Strip there’s approximately 1.7 million people in October, that is 80 per cent of the population, who did not receive their monthly food rations.”

7. Wide lateral shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

8. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “This week, I have had two missions to the north that I was supposed to be on for WASH [water, sanitation and hygiene], so providing chlorine tablets and assessing facilities of those sheltering. These missions were denied. So, the besieged north is becoming almost impossible, and has been impossible. No one from UNRWA has been able to access the besieged north in over a month.”

9. Wide lateral shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

10. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “What I can share with you is the pleas and the testimonies we've had from our own colleagues who are trapped there. We've also had pleas and testimonies from the doctors in the hospitals in the north. These hospitals have been bombed. The doctors inform us that they have run out of blood supplies. They have run out of medicine. There are reports that people are left in the street. They are abandoned. There are bodies in the streets. The ambulances have stopped functioning.”

11. Wide lateral shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference from rear; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

12. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “Our call for Hamas as well as the Israeli forces is a ceasefire. That is our call for Hamas. They are part of this war. They have been involved in the fighting. They have initiated these horrific attacks against Israeli civilians on 7 October. It is unacceptable that the war continues and that civilians keep suffering. We have seen horrific suffering of Israeli civilians on the 7 October attacks, followed by horrific suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

13. Medium shot: Cameraperson in the Press room.

14. SOUNDBITE (English) – Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA): “There needs to be a ceasefire, a release and return of the hostages home and finally, some respite to all the civilians, not just in the Gaza Strip, but the surrounding region.”

15. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.

16. Displaced Palestinians, including children, queuing to receive hot meals provided by charities in Deir Al-Balah, 10 November 2024

17. Driving shots, Gaza City, 3 November 2024.