UN humanitarian chief says Gaza has become ‘uninhabitable’ after three months of war

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations humanitarian chief says Gaza has become “uninhabitable” three months after Hamas’ horrific attacks against Israel and “a public health disaster is unfolding.”

Martin Griffiths says in a statement that “people are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded (and) famine is around the corner.”

And Gazans are “witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on,” he says.

The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs says tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet, and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed.

The few partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, infectious diseases are spreading, and amidst the chaos some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day, he says.

Griffiths reiterates UN demands for an immediate end to the war and the release of all hostages, declaring, “It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen.”

He says the humanitarian community is facing an “impossible mission” of supporting more than 2 million people in Gaza while aid workers are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shot at, and vital commercial supplies “are almost non-existent.”

Gaza has shown “the worst of humanity,” Griffiths says, and it’s long past time for the war to end.