Jerusalem, Nov 28 (EFE).- “The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic,” despite the truce between Israel and the Hamas Islamist group that has allowed aid into the besieged Palestinian strip, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said on Tuesday.
Tor Wennesland acknowledged that the paused fighting had allowed the UN and partners to scale up their delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, including to the northern parts of the enclave.
However, he warned that it had not helped lessen the crisis in the strip, devastated by a brutal military campaign by the Israeli army that has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, mostly children, women, and the elderly. An estimated 7,000 people are missing under the rubble of the building razed by Israeli airstrikes.
“(It) requires the urgent entry of additional aid and supplies in a smooth, predictable, and continuous manner to alleviate the unbearable suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” Wennesland said.
During the humanitarian pause, which began on Nov. 24 and was extended on Monday, Hamas, which de facto rules the enclave, has released 51 Israeli and 18 foreign hostages, including women and children, who have been held in Gaza since their abduction by Islamist militants on Oct. 7.
At the same time, 150 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including women and children, have been released from Israeli prisons.
Wennesland welcomed “what has been an important humanitarian breakthrough, especially for civilians living in agony or under the gun or bombardment.”
“I call for the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza, and I am encouraged by (the) announcement of an extension of the agreement.”
Israel declared war on Gaza on Oct. 7 after an attack by the Islamist group, which included more than 4,000 rockets and infiltration by some 3,000 militants, who killed 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 from Israeli communities and held them hostages in the strip. EFE
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